Babes in Mayonaka Land
by TiberiusNero
Summary: A string of strange child disappearances prompts the Investigation Team to go back into the TV world after Nanako becomes the latest victim. What they step into is an adventure none of them ever expected. Update 10/20/16: Nearly all chapters re-written or edited.
1. Prologue

**This is a story I've had in mind for a while, and I've only just now gotten to writing it. I hope it offers something different to other Persona 4 stories. I'd appreciate any comments or favs.**

**Persona 4 and Shin Megami Tensei are both owned by Atlus.**

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Two more days.

Staring at the calendar certainly didn't make time go any faster. In fact, she swore time moved slower as she looked at the reminder that her big brother would come back to Inaba in two days. It was agonizing, especially for the young Nanako Doujima, who was as patient as any child her age would be. Still, complaining about it wouldn't change a thing, as she found out the hard way. As her father explained, there would be no trains coming from the city sooner than Thursday, and she would just have to wait.

She let out a deep sigh, as she would do when she wanted to let on that there was something bothering her. It fell on deaf ears, however, as her father, the only resident in the household, was at work. Everyone was at work, as far as she was concerned. Yosuke and Teddie were at Junes, and were too busy with the latest sale crowd to look after her. Chie was performing her patrols around the city and couldn't afford to stay in one place. Yukiko was busy with the inn. Kanji was helping at his mother's shop, and Naoto was at the police station with Ryoutaro.

It had been such a long time since Nanako was alone in her house, she had almost forgotten what it felt like. It was certainly not a feeling she wanted again, after all the good times that were had after Yu had come to town. She wouldn't have to feel this way for much longer, but the wait was still painful to bear.

She had already made herself some lunch, and eating between meals was not advised. Her homework for that day in summer was already finished, and she didn't feel like going ahead with her lessons. She could play with her toys, but she knew that would only last so long before she got bored again. Staring at the clock and counting down the minutes before Yu arrived wasn't going anywhere either. With not many options, she took a look around the living room, her eyes finally resting on the T.V.

She knew there were no cartoons or anything she wanted to watch that was broadcasting at this hour. Still, everything else looked dull in comparison, making the television look like more and more of a good idea. More like a last-ditch attempt at escaping boredom, but it was better than nothing.

Nanako plopped herself down between the table and the television, her usual spot when she wanted to watch, and turned it on. News. Weather. Some melodrama the old ladies around town like to talk about. More news. This plan was starting to look like a bust, too. Maybe if she kept switching channels, she'd find something. She kept pushing the button, still finding nothing that came out at her, and then...

Static.

She had run the gamut of channels and found nothing, coming now to the end of the line. Nanako groaned audibly in frustration. Why couldn't Dad spring for cable like Mai-chan has at her house? Sighing in defeat, she resigned to just going back to her room and probably just taking a nap. But first, she'd have to change the T.V. back to an actual channel before her father got home and wonder what happened.

Nanako pressed the opposite button to change the channel back, only to be met with more static. This was strange. She knew she didn't go that far. She kept pushing the button, but still couldn't find anything. Panic set in. She couldn't have possibly broken the T.V. by just channel surfing! Sure, it was an old model, but it was stronger than this! The channel display even told her that she was on a station where there was something on just a minute ago. After a few more channels of the same white noise, it ceased, leaving only a black screen with a single point of light in the center.

She gasped at the thought that she had actually broken it. She got up and looked around the television set, hoping to find something she could fiddle with to fix it. Unfortunately, she had all the knowledge a seven year old could hold and didn't find anything she felt comfortable messing with. Unsure of other options, she decided on just smacking with her fist. It worked in cartoons, after all! She lightly rapped on the screen with her closed fist, not wanting to hurt herself.

At her touch, the point of light on the screen began to get brighter. There was an audible hum coming from the speakers as well, rising and falling in volume. Nanako stepped back and looked on to see if she made things better or worse. In rhythm with the hum, the light grew brighter and dimmer, and she couldn't help but to stare at it. It felt soothing in a way, and all of her worries about the T.V. slowly melted away. She simply continued to stare at the light, mesmerized and relaxed.

After a minute, the point of light in the T.V. grew extremely dim, the humming almost coming to a dead stop. But in an instant, the light flared brighter than before, almost blinding, with the noise blaring. The light seemed to reach out of the television and covered Nanako, still mesmerized, in its brightness. At last, the light and the humming noise stopped, the television shut down completely. In front of the television, lay Nanako's white top, pink skirt, hair ribbons, socks and underwear. The little girl wearing them had vanished.

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**Update 8/27/15: Edited the mistake on Nanako's age (This story takes place in the summer after the events of the game) and her clothes. Turns out her summer outfit was a two piece ensemble. Who knew?**


	2. Who, What, Where, How and Why?

**I wrote the first two chapters before uploading this story, so it'll be a while before the next chapter comes out. Again, comments and questions are welcome.**

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**Chapter 1: Who, What, How, Where and Why?**

"What a thing to come back to. I'm so sorry, partner."

Hearing the news about Nanako's sudden and mysterious disappearance was not the reason Yu Narukami wanted to come back to Inaba. Reality was cruel, it seemed, and not only did he have to hear about this through a phone call, but there weren't any trains leaving for Inaba for another day. He had hardly slept, not knowing at all the details of what happened, or even being able to communicate with his uncle, who had been inconsolable since coming home and finding Nanako gone. Fortunately for Yu, he had the support of Yosuke Hanamua, the first friend he had made coming to town.

"We'll get her back, senpai. I know we will," the voice of Rise Kujikawa, soothing as ever, consoled him. Rise and Yu had become close during the events of the previous year. It was her who kept in constant contact with Yu after Nanako vanished, along with Yosuke and the others, and perhaps the only reason he hadn't burnt out from the stress. Keeping her hand on Yu's shoulder, she made sure he still had his head on straight.

"It feels like just yesterday we just got her back from that creep Namatame. Now we lost her again..." Teddie lamented, sitting at the other side of the table. He was out of his suit and in his human form. Of course, people wondered more about the odd blond hanging around than the mascot suit. Given how depressed he looked, one could easily think it was his cousin who disappeared. "How long is Nao-chan gonna take at the station?"

"She's trying her best, Teddie. Just calm down," Yosuke replied. It was a question on everyone's mind, however. They were waiting in Junes' food court for Naoto, who said she'd try to get put on the case, since as far as the department was concerned, she had no connection to Nanako. But it was taking a long time, and every minute that passed by felt agonizingly long. At that point in the conversation, two sets of steps could be heard. Turning around, they were met by the faces of Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi. Not the faces they were hoping to see, but still a welcome sight.

"Hey, Yu-kun," Chie greeted, an air of uneasiness of how to approach looming around her. "How are you holding up?"

"Barely," Yu answered, sounding distant, almost reminiscent of his attitude when he came to Inaba the first time.

"We're still waiting on Naoto-kun to get back with the info on the case," Yosuke explained, now needing to speak for Yu. "Feels like it's taking longer than it should, though. I hope that's not a bad sign."

"I'm sure Naoto-kun's trying their best," Chie said, trying hard to smile for everyone else. "We just have to wait."

"How's my uncle?" Yu sat up and asked, the first question he had since everyone decided what to do.

"Still a mess, I'm afraid," Yukiko answered. Since the home was now considered a crime scene, neither Yu or his uncle could stay there. Yu stayed between Rise's home and Yosuke's house, while Ryoutaro was set up with one of the nicer rooms at the Amagi inn. "He's barely eating, and we're doing our best to keep the alcohol to a minimum. The other women said that such a handsome man shouldn't be going through such tough times."

"Poor Doujima-san..." Rise sighed. "Can't imagine what he's going through right now. He must feel so powerless."

"He did tell me one thing, though," Yukiko said, a statement that caught everyone's attention.

"What was it?" Yu asked.

"He said, 'Whatever this is, I know that it's something way out of my league. I know you and my nephew's friends can do something about it. Please save Nanako.'"

"So does that mean it's something that only we can investigate?" Yosuke pondered aloud.

"That may very well be the case."

A semi-feminine voice drew their attention. Walking up to their table was the familiar face of Naoto Shirogane. Flanking just behind her was the tall Kanji Tatsumi, who likely had gone with Naoto to the station. In Naoto's hands was a manila folder with a case number and yesterday's date.

"Naoto-kun! So, you got it?" Yoskue stood up, noticing the folder in Naoto's hands.

"It wasn't a simple task getting the department to give me this case, but after Doujima-san was dropped from it, I was the only one left who could handle it," she explained.

"Thank goodness," Yukiko sighed in relief. "So, what did you find?"

Naoto laid the folder on the table and opened it for everyone to see. The first page was standard documentation, along with three different photos. One boy and two girls, one of whom was Nanako, all school pictures.

"Along with Nanako-chan, two other children have disappeared," Naoto began explaining. "All in the same day, just hours of each other. The only connection so far is that they all go to the same school. The teachers and other faculty members were immediately questioned, but all of them have alibis, none of which involved the children."

"So much for that angle," Yosuke grumbled. "You said that this might be another case only we could look into. Does that mean what I think it means?"

"It's a strong possibility, but I have never seen anything like this..." Naoto answered.

"What do you mean?" Chie inquired.

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" Naoto pointed to the picture of the young boy with short messy brown hair. "First reported disappearance was of eight year old Mamoru Wadatsume. At about 11:34 AM, two days ago, Mamoru's mother had gone outside to tend to her garden, while her son was in his room, playing games. According to the report, she was only outside for roughly 15 to 20 minutes. When she came to check on Mamoru, he was gone. After searching the house, Mrs. Wadatsume called the police."

"Only 15 to 20 minutes?" Yosuke repeated, making sure he heard right. "That's not nearly enough time to nab a kid and make it out without making some commotion."

"Not only that, but there were no signs of a struggle, and no signs of the front door being tampered with," Naoto elaborated. "Mamoru's room was also on the second floor. It would've been impossible for anyone to successfully kidnap a child without someone seeing."

"Okay, this is starting to sound really familiar!" Teddie exclaimed, sitting up in his seat.

"That's only half of it, though," Kanji spoke up. "Keep going, Naoto."

Naoto cleared her throat. "Thank you, Kanji-kun." She pointed to the next picture, a little girl about Nanako's age with short black hair, cut with an upturned perm. "Next reported child missing was seven and a half year old Mai Iwadoki. According to the address, she's Wadatsume's next door neighbor."

"Mai?" Yu perked up. "That's one of Nanako's friends. She was taken, too?"

"It seems so," Naoto answered and then continued. "At 1:18 PM, Mai was with her older sister while their mother was out shopping and their father was working. Mika, the older sister, had gone to the kitchen to make the both of them lunch."

"And, let me guess. Mai was gone by the time the sister got back?" Yosuke asked.

"Yes," Naoto answered. "Mika swore she had only been gone ten minutes to make lunch. There were two paths out of the living room where Mai was seen last. One that would have been in her sister's view, and one near the front door. The front door was locked tight, and showed no signs of tampering, just like the last one."

"In this case, there was someone close enough that they could've easily seen the kid get nabbed," Chie mused. "Whoever's doing this has got to have a lot of balls to be pulling this off."

"Or, they have some assistance," Naoto added. She looked back at the file and took a deep breath before continuing. "Last reported child, seven year old Nanako Doujima. Her father left for work before she woke up, and was gone by the time he called home to check up on her, at about 3:00 PM, leaving her disappearance to any time before then." Finished, Naoto sat down, her arms supporting her head.

"This doesn't make sense," Yosuke finally spoke up after everyone was quiet for a few minutes. "Why just these three kids? And why kids, period?"

"If there was no evidence of a struggle or a break-in," Chie began to ask, "how do the police know this is a kidnapping and not the kid just running away? Uh...not that I believe Nanako-chan would have ANY reason to run away from home, but what about the others?"

"Because, while there was no sign of a struggle or a break-in," Naoto answered, "there was evidence left behind. Rather disturbing evidence."

"I'm suddenly not liking where this is going..." Yosuke shuddered, expecting the worse.

Without another word, Naoto moved the case documents to reveal photos taken at the scenes of each disappearance. The first picture showed a typical little boy's room, with blue walls, simple wooden drawers, a game system on the floor, and a plain bed. There were only a few toys scattered on the floor, but this was typical.

"Phew...no blood. Thank God," Yosuke said, holding his chest.

"Well, I did say there were no signs of a struggle. Blood would have clearly shown otherwise," Naoto rolled her eyes at having to explain this. "Doujima-san took these pictures and he noticed something odd. Take a look near the bed." Everyone got in close as Naoto pointed to the picture.

"Are those...pajamas?" Rise asked. Next to the bed could clearly be seen a pair of young boy's pajamas, a white and blue short sleeve top with a Featherman R logo, and bottoms with bird ensignia on them, laying in a pile.

"Yes, and Mamoru's mother confirmed that those were the exact set of pajamas her son was wearing when she saw him last," Naoto replied, bringing another set of photos. "These pictures detail every piece of clothing."

Everyone's heart had skipped a beat. Looking at the photos, everything that Mamoru would have been wearing was there, including a pair of white briefs. None of them wanted to admit what this might have meant for the poor boy. But it was there, plain to see.

"That can't be possible," Rise said. "It's like he just...vanished, and left his clothes behind."

"It does seem impossible," Naoto said, trying her best not to break, "but this display has occurred more than once. It's what's led the department to believe that these three cases are connected. I'm inclined to agree."

"That means...the other kids..."

"Yes," Naoto turned over the first picture to show the picture of a family room, couch and table situated near the television. "This is the living room of the Iwadoki household. Mika said that Mai was on the couch." Looking over at the couch, the group could see an overall skirt with a red shirt still inside it. Underneath the skirt was a pair of star patterned leggings.

"Again, it's as if she just disappeared," Yukiko commented. "No way someone could have taken her clothes off and arrange them like that in the time her sister was away..."

"Exactly, which makes me believe that whoever's done this has had some sort of supernatural assistance," Naoto said. "I never thought I'd be saying something like that."

"What about Nanako?" Yu asked. Everyone paused.

"Are...are you sure you want to see it, senpai?" Naoto hesitatingly asked. "I wasn't sure you'd want to, considering..."

"Let me see it," he replied, in a voice that was barely containing its grief and rage.

"...Okay, senpai," Naoto relented as she brought up the pictures from the Doujima household. Yu held it up to look at it. It was taken from the glass door, in order to get a look at everything. Between the TV and the table, lay the familiar white top and pink skirt that Yu knew Nanako always liked to wear in the summer. A zoomed in picture showed a pair of ribbons at both sides of the pile.

Yu took in a deep breath. "That was her favorite spot..."

"Yu-kun..." Rise gripped Yu's arm tightly.

"Why hasn't the news told about this?" Yosuke asked, attempting to bring the conversation back onto the case. They had all heard about the disappearances over the news, but none said anything about the clothes being left behind.

"We're trying to keep that piece of information under wraps," Naoto answered. "For one, we don't want to cause a panic. That, and the police at large don't know what to do with it, as it only makes the case much more complicated. And it's already complicated, since these three aren't the only ones."

"Wait, they're not?" Chie asked.

"These are only the reported disappearances in Inaba. But places like Sumaru, Mikage-cho, even Tatsumi Port Island has had children disappear within the last couple of days. I had some debts repaid in order to obtain these from those locations."

Naoto turned past Nanako's case file, to show a stack of photos clipped together. Spreading them out individually, the group found similar pictures to the ones from before. One showed a fallen dress in a fancy looking home. Another had a shirt and a pair of shorts in a pile in front of a TV display at a store. There was even a photo showing two sets of clothes in a living room.

"So that definitely means this is more than just a one man operation," Yosuke commented. "If this is affecting so many cities, who knows how many children are missing all over Japan? All over the world, even?!"

"If that is the case, that makes this bigger than a simple kidnapping," Naoto added. "We'll need to move quickly before there are more victims."

"But, where do we even start?" Rise had to ask.

"The first place we should've started looking," Naoto answered. "Look again at the pictures. What else is there in common between them?" With the pictures of the Doujima house, Mamoru's room and the Iwadoki living room together, the group saw one more thing in common. Inside each room, was a television set.

"The T.V's!" They exclaimed at once.

"Why didn't we think of looking there first?" Yosuke said, smacking his forehead.

"To be fair, we all thought we were finished with it after we beat Izanami," Yukiko pointed out. "And before now, we thought this was just a normal kidnapping."

"Even at the office, most of the details about this case were being kept to only those who were investigating it," Naoto added. "I never would've thought there was anything unnatural about this either."

"Looks like we got ourselves a lead! Isn't that great, partner?" Yosuke asked Yu. Everyone's attention turned to Yu, looking to see if he'd be up to lead them again.

Yu only stood up from his chair and clenched his fist. "If any of you still have your equipment, bring it. We'll meet at the electronics department in one hour! We're gonna find Nanako, and bring whoever took her and the other kids back here kicking and screaming!"

"Yeah!"

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**Update 8/27/15: Added a little extra dialogue.**


	3. Finding an Entrance

**Finished this sooner than I thought I would, but don't get used to it, folks. I know I spoil you, but don't grow fat on it. As always, comments and favs are welcome.**

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**Chapter 2: Finding an Entrance**

Getting past the people shopping at Junes to get to the electronics department was as easy as was it ever was. It almost felt like second nature getting back into the world inside the TVs, even though it had been months since they last went. Yosuke equated it to never forgetting how to ride a bicycle. Not that he had any room to talk, considering his clumsiness.

The old hub they all gathered around was still present, even after the fog had cleared, leaving the place looking more like a building that somehow stretched into the outside. At its borders, they could see out to the vast worlds that were created when the previous victims were thrown into this chaotic world. In some areas still, there was nothing but empty void, and it didn't take much intellect to figure out that they shouldn't tread there.

The team paced nervously, about the only other noise apart from their steps was of the hum of Rise's persona, Kanzeon. Its satelite head moved back and forth, searching patiently for any signs of the missing children. It had already been five minutes before the team began to worry.

"Didn't we used to find a trail faster than this?" Yosuke asked out loud. "I'm on pins and needles trying to stay calm."

"Give her a break, Yosuke!" Chie snapped back. "We're all a little scared right now. There are who knows how many kids that have been dropped into this world, most likely butt naked, suffering who knows what. It'd be a little hard for me to focus too."

"Not to mention it's been months since we last fought or even used our personas," Yukiko added. "I'm surprised this place is still here."

"Yeah. It's almost like this world never forgets," Kanji continued. "I know there are more than a few places I'd like to forget." He spun the steel shield in his hands. "And some good memories of bashing Shadows with this. Glad I kept it as a souvenir."

"No kidding," Chie giggled. "I sometimes put on these old greaves and work out awesome kung-fu sequences with them." She practiced a straight kick. "I haven't lost my kick yet, and I've got plenty saved for the sicko that did this!"

Much of the equipment brought with them were in fact old keepsakes from their previous investigations. Yosuke sold his knives months ago, and had to shell out money for a new pair. Naoto still had her gun as part of her job. Teddie kept his favorite claw tucked into his suit. The only thing that they had to buy was armor, and unfortunately, since no new materials had been brought to Daidara's in months, all he had was basic armor, reminiscent of the old armors the group first equipped.

"Hope the stuff we've got is enough to defend us," Yu said, holding the sword he had saved and decided to bring with him after he had heard what happened to Nanako. He looked back at Rise. "Anything yet?"

"It's weird..." Rise responded. "I'm getting nothing, and yet, it feels like there's something all over. It could easily be how this world is now that the fog's gone, but I can't be sure."

"The children have to be here," Yosuke insisted. "All the pictures we saw had a TV in the room. Nanako-chan's was the most obvious! If they're not here, than where?"

"I could always let you steer and try and find them, but then again, you can't, can you?!" Rise stomped her foot. "I'm trying my best here, the least you could do is wait like a-AAHHH!" Suddenly, Kanzeon dispersed and Rise fell to her knees, covering her ears.

"Rise!" Yu was the first to run over and kneel next to her. "What happened?"

"I don't know..." she answered, gently letting go of her head. "It was like all this noise came rushing in at once. I think I might have found something though." She pointed over in a direction that seemed to lead to a far off mountain.

"Noise? Then that probably means that all the children are in the same place, right?" Yukiko asked. "You've never tried to look for multiple people at once. That's probably why it overwhelmed you."

"Are you okay to stand?" Yu asked Rise, trying to help her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you...Yu," Rise was still trying to get used to only calling Yu by his name rather than "senpai", but he appreciated the effort all the same. She looked at Yu with that same confident smile she always had.

"Okay, everybody!" Teddie jumped. "Let's go save those kids!"

The path towards the mountain hadn't taken very long. Much like most of the mazes before, it took at most a half hour to get there. To pass the time, Yu's friends inquired him about what he had been up to while he was away. Yu was thankful he still had friends like these, especially in such hard times. The connections he had made would be the way he'd get through this, he knew it.

Eventually, they reached a stop in their trek, having made it to the mountain. A densely forested area lay at the base, almost misdirecting them. Teddie, however, seemed to catch an idea of where he was going, and for lack of a better option, the team followed him. They managed to come to a monstrous looking cave, looking like the maw of a great beast. The familiar red and black shifting door seemed to tell them they had the right place.

"Wow. This couldn't be a more obvious bad guy lair if it tried," Yosuke commented. "All it'd need is a flashing neon sign."

"Yeah, this is feeling a little too easy," Chie complemented. "I smell a trap."

"How can someone make a trap in this place?" Kanji questioned. "Weren't all the mazes we went through before made from the mind of the person who was thrown in?"

"That's true, but there are some differences, Kanji-kun," Naoto replied. "First, there is more than one person lost here. Secondly, we're dealing with someone capable of taking children out of their clothes and through the television. Don't forget, there was at least one person capable of manipulating this world."

"Oh, right!" Chie snapped her fingers. "Adachi gave us the run-around when we were looking for him by changing his maze."

"Exactly, so it's possible our suspect is someone who could do the same," Naoto nodded. "But, trap or not, we don't have any alternatives, and not enough time to look for one. With the fog gone, and the weather pattern returned to normal, we have no way of knowing how long the children will be safe for."

"Which means we have either until next week or tomorrow to find them," Yosuke commented. "Man, months out of practice, and we're starting off with a marathon. I thought we were done with all this..."

"We all did," Yu said, putting a hand on Yosuke's shoulder, "but right now, it's more important than ever that we try to get through this as soon as possible."

"I couldn't agree more, senpai," Naoto responded with a smile. "I elect we split off into groups. We'll cover more ground, and we can find the way through quicker."

"Good idea," Yu agreed. "Yosuke, Rise and I will be the first group. We'll keep Rise safe so she can relay anything to all of you."

"Sounds good," Yosuke smiled.

"I'll try not to slow you two down," Rise confided.

"Yukiko? Chie? Are you two good to just be a group together?" Yu asked.

"Sure! I got Yukiko's back covered!"

"And I'll keep us healed and toast anyone that crosses us!" Yukiko smiled.

"Okay. That leaves Kanji, Naoto and Teddie. You three will form the last group."

"Aww," Teddie whined. "Can I request a group change to be with Yuki-chan and Chie-chan?"

"No, Teddie," Yu rejected bluntly. "The other two groups already have healers. Kanji and Naoto are gonna be depending on you to keep them fighting. Isn't that right?"

"Don't worry, Teddie," Kanji said, flexing his arm. "One tuft of your fur gets hurt, whatever did it's gonna get a pounding!"

"We'll keep you protected, Teddie. Just don't forget our mission," Naoto stated.

"Right! Nana-chan and those kids are depending on us!" Teddie replied, putting on a face of determination. "I just hope we're not too late."

"We're all hoping that, Teddie," Yu said. "Is everyone ready?"

With everyone grouped up, Yu's group moved cautiously towards the shifting door. As they got closer, the pattern ceased, opening up to...

"Okay, now it's getting weird," Yosuke was the first to comment. What they saw didn't seem to be anything too strange, if it was anywhere but here.

"It looks almost like the back halls of some office building," Naoto said, describing what she saw. The walls a very light green, lit by flourescent lighting, the halls of the maze looked more like utility hall than the maze of someone's subconsciousness.

"Somehow, this feels more unsettling than the other places we went through," Yukiko stated.

"Well, we traced the signal of the kids to this place, so it's gotta be the right one," Yu said. "Rise, can you check for shadows?"

"Right away!" Rise summoned Kanzeon again and held the visor firmly. "Hmm...I am sensing shadows...but there aren't any here..."

"Does that mean they're deeper inside?" Kanji asked. "What about the kids?"

Rise's face winced a little. "Yeah, that same noise is here."

"Then the only thing to do is to go deeper," Yu stated. "We'll split off here and look for the stairs. We should be able to find them quickly if there aren't any enemies here. You find them, give a shout, and Rise will direct you."

Everyone nodded and started off deeper into the maze. As soon as the path split, Yukiko and Chie went off from the rest of the group, promising to give word if they ran into trouble or the stairs. Further inside, the path split again, allowing Kanji, Naoto and Teddie to investigate on their own, leaving Rise, Yosuke and Yu to explore the rest.

"How are you holding up, Yu?" Rise decided to ask just to break the silence. "It's good to see you back to your old self since we found out we had a chance to find Nanako-chan, but are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Yu answered. "I just want to find the kids as soon as possible, and find out who did this."

"Do you think we'll find the bastard who took them?" Yosuke pondered aloud. "It could be someone hiding in the real world. This could be a wild goose chase."

"Our first mission is saving the kids," Yu reminded him. "Right now, what we know is that they're here, and we need to break them out."

"Okay. Let's just be careful, alright?" Rise took ahold of Yu's arm. "Nanako-chan means a lot to all of us, so each of us has a stake in this too."

"She's right, partner," Yosuke added. "We all want to see her safe and sound, so don't think you have to do this by yourself."

"Right...thank you," Yu put on a smile to let them know he understood. Soon after, they reached a door, nothing really outstanding or strange about it. It was the first door they reached through the whole maze, and with little other recourse, they decided to open it. Inside, they found the beginning of a stairwell leading downward.

"Awesome!" Yosuke cheered. "Give everyone the word, Rise!"

Rise nodded and put her hand to her ear. "This is Rise! We found the stairs!"

"What?!" Teddie's voice was heard in reply first. "We just found the stairs! And you guys aren't anywhere near them!"

"We were just about to tell you we found the stairs, too!" Chie's voice rang out. "Are you telling me there's three different sets of stairs?"

"That's what it looks like," Naoto said. "This is quickly becoming stranger and stranger."

"This is definitely a trap..." Yosuke lamented.

"Do we have a choice, though?" Chie asked. "If this is the only way down..."

"It pains me to say this, but we'll need to go through with it," Naoto stated. "If it is a trap, then we'll need to figure a way out of it in order to move on."

"Not unless it kills us first!" Yosuke shouted. "I'm all for rescuing Nanako, but I'm not all cool with walking straight into a deathtrap!"

"Then tread carefully," was all Naoto answered with. "Look for any strange signs that could act as a trigger. If you find anything, let everyone know."

"How is it YOU'RE the one acting positive, Naoto-kun?" Yosuke sighed.

"It's not positivity, it's determination," Naoto stated. "I want to save Nanako-chan as badly as everyone else, and I'm willing to do whatever's necessary. I trust that's the same for you, senpai?"

"She's right," Yu spoke up. "We've been through worse. This isn't going to end us that easily."

"No trap's stronger than my kicks!" Chie boasted. "We can handle anything this place throws at us!"

"Guess we're all strong-headed idiots, then," Yosuke shrugged. "Alright, you twisted my arm. Let's do this."

Every group wished the other good luck as they started towards the stairs. Nothing about the steps looked at all strange, which only caused Yosuke more unease. All three in the group looked carefully on the walls and the floor for anything that seemed off.

"Doesn't look like a trap so far..." Rise noted once a few flights had been traveled without incident.

"That's not much of a comfort..." Yosuke whimpered.

"What if we're just overthinking this?" She asked. "This could just be a normal stairwell."

"That's how it always goes in the movies," Yosuke replied. "Then the next thing you know, the door closes behind us..."

Creaaaak-SLAM! The sound of the door closing echoed through the stairwell.

"Like that!" Yosuke pointed. "I knew it!" He scrambled back up the steps towards the door, with the others in tow.

"Yosuke, wait!" Yu shouted after him. Yosuke was already a flight ahead, panting to keep his breath. Suddenly, the sound of Yosuke's steps stopped as another sound filled their ears. The sound of rushing water.

"What's going on?" Rise asked, and soon found her answer in the form of a wave of water coming the stairs, carrying Yosuke with it.

The impact of Yosuke with the other two sent them tumbling down the stairs, carried by the strong current. Yu did his best to brace himsef and Rise against the walls, but the water proved to be too much, as he soon found himself completely submerged. Through the water, he could barely see Rise and Yosuke floating helplessly in the water and tried to reach out for them. But the loss of oxygen was taking its toll, and he soon found himself in darkness.


	4. From a dream, to?

**I typed this out much quicker than I thought I would. This chapter, we join Nanako and find out just what happened to her after the prologue.**

**As always, comments and questions are welcome!**

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**Chapter 3: From a dream, to...?**

"Nanako! It's time to wake up!" Her father's voice could be heard through the door. She slowly opened her eyes, quite surprised that she had to be woken up by her father. Wasn't it the other way around?

Rolling over, she looked at her clock. 9:30 AM. Usually, Dad was already off at work at this time. Did he just not go? That wasn't a bad thing, just different. Nanako admonished herself for sleeping so late and got out of bed. It was Sunday, so that meant she wouldn't need to change out of her pajamas.

As she came into the hallway, the smell of eggs and meat cooking filled her nostrils. Since when did Dad cook? Looking into the living room, she found the familiar face of her cousin. He had an apron on and was already dressed for the day. He turned to her with a smile on his face.

"Big bro!" Nanako gasped, embracing his waist in a hug. She had been waiting what felt like forever for him to come, and he was finally here.

"Woah! Easy there, Nanako," Yu said. "Don't want to spill breakfast."

"What's with that greeting, Nanako?" Her father asked. He was seated at the table, paper in one hand, coffee in the other. "You give him a hug, but won't give a thing to your daddy?"

"Sorry..." Nanako let go of Yu and walked over to her father, who leaned down for a kiss. Nanako sat down next to him, the smile on his face was a welcome sight, genuine and bright.

"Ah, it's no problem. Just giving you trouble, 'cause that's what I do," her father chuckled. "You going out today, Yu?"

"Yeah, I've got practice with the basketball team this afternoon," Yu answered. "You're going to work after breakfast, right?"

"Yup, but it's gonna be a paperwork day, I know it," Ryoutaro grumbled. "What I wouldn't do for just a little excitement around here. I'm gonna get all flabby at this rate."

"Oh..." Nanako said, looking down at the table. It looked like today would be a typical day after all. "I'll be okay by myself..."

"Really?" Her father asked. "But your mother was gonna go shopping later. I thought you would've wanted to go to Junes with her."

"What?" Just as she asked that, she heard the sliding door close behind her.

"My ears are burning," she heard a vaguely familiar voice speak. She quickly turned around and saw a woman with the same hair color as her own, trailing down to her mid-back. A gentle smiling face looked to her, dressed in a yellow blouse and a long white skirt. "What are we talking about?"

Ryoutaro greeted the woman with a kiss on the lips. "You were gonna take Nanako to Junes with you, right?"

"Given how much she talks about it, why wouldn't I?" The woman laughed. She turned to Nanako again. "If you want to get going right now, you should probably get dressed."

Nanako said nothing. She just continued to stare at this woman. She barely recognized her face, but she could tell. There could be only one woman that would be like this with her father. It had to be.

"...Mommy?"

"Yes, Nanako? Is something the matter?" The woman who answered to the call of Mother asked.

Nanako got down from her seat and walked over to her mother. She was so close now, it was incredible. On the verge of tears, Nanako wrapped her arms around her mother's waist, no longer caring about holding back.

"Mom!" She cried. "Mommy..."

"Hey, now. Why the tears, Nanako?" Her mother asked, putting a hand on Nanako's head. She knelt down, prompting Nanako to let go, and was now at eye level with her. "It's okay, dear. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere." She embraced Nanako in a tight hug.

Nanako indulged in the feeling of her mother's arms. It was something she thought she would never feel. The kiss on her forehead, the rubbing of her hair and the hand at her back.

But something felt off. Something that Nanako couldn't quite place, but she felt it. Something was missing from this. Where was the warmth? Where was that relaxing feeling, seeing her mother here? She should be happy, but why did this feel strange? Eventually, it dawned on her as she felt her mother's embrace, and it made her heart sink.

None of this was real.

"No..." Nanako quickly pushed herself away from her mother, who looked on with shock. She started to shake her head, still in disbelief of what she was witnessing.

"Nanako? What's the matter?" Her mother asked.

"No...this isn't real..." Nanako whimpered.

"What are you talking about?" Her mother asked again. "Are you feeling okay?" She placed a hand on Nanako's forehead.

"No!" Nanako smacked her mother's hand away. "No! I'm dreaming! I have to be!"

"Why are you saying that? Nanako, what's gotten into you?"

"You're not here...you're not supposed to be here..." Nanako, choking up again.

"What do you mean?" The woman appearing as her mother asked.

"You died!" Nanako shouted, pointing at the woman. "You can't be here!"

"Nanako, how can you say such a thing?!" Her father exclaimed.

"This isn't right! None of this is right!" Nanako cried. "I want to wake up. I want to wake up!" She held her head, praying to whoever would listen to let her wake from this dream. With nothing happening, all she could think about was leaving this place. She quickly broke out into a run, past the woman, around the table and straight to the front door. The moment she opened it, light suddenly flooded the room, blinding her until she couldn't see anything.

Nanako opened her eyes with a start. The sensation of wind whipping past her was the first thing she noticed. Once her eyes adjusted, she quickly discovered that the sensation was from her falling. Below her, a green sea of trees making up a dense forest conquered her view. As pretty as it was, it didn't make up for the fact that she was falling fast. Nanako let out a scream and shielded her eyes.

She held herself tensely, waiting for the inevitable impact. It was some time before she felt something, but it wasn't the hard ground. Rather, she felt her fall being cushioned before stopping. She even bounced a bit upon landing. Taking notice she wasn't dead, she took in a deep breath and tried to steady it, hoping it would calm the sound of her heart racing in her chest.

That was when she saw what she landed on. Surrounding her on all sides was a bed of orange flowers. How a mass of flowers could soften her fall to the point that she didn't suffer any injury was beyond her, but she wasn't about to question it if it meant she was safe. Mulling over that fact, she heard a voice nearby.

"Are you okay, piro? That was scary! What were you thinking, trying to fly with no wings, piro?!"

Nanako looked up at the source of the voice, and found something that she did not expect. It appeared to be a red furred cat, at least in body. Long and sleek with a white furred belly and muzzle, complete with a long tail that made it look like a cat. Its ears, however, looked like those of a rabbit, long and stiff. It also had a pair of wings on its back that kept it aloft as it stared at Nanako. Most unusual about this creature was the green jewel on its forehead and the gold collar it wore around its neck. It reminded her of those helper creatures from magical girl shows. Especially with that word at the end of its sentence.

"Piro?" was the only thing Nanako could think to say, as she got to her feet without taking her eyes off the creature.

"That's my name! Don't wear it out, piro!" Piro, as they called themselves, said with a big smile. "Now, tell me, piro. What are you?" Piro looked up and down Nanako with a face contorted in confusion, as if they had never seen a little girl before. Nanako followed Piro's line of sight, wondering what could be so strange about her, and gasped.

"I'm naked!" she cried. There was not a stitch of clothing on her, not even so much as her hair ribbons or her underwear!

"Naked, huh? That's a strange name, but I guess that's fine, piro," Piro replied to her outburst.

"What? My name's not 'Naked'! It's Nanako! NA-NA-KO!" she corrected Piro, her face slightly red from the misunderstanding. "What is this place, Piro?"

"This is home, piro! I live here!" Piro said, spreading their front paws out. "Though, I've never had a guest here, piro. Especially one that fell from the sky. That would've been bad if I hadn't made those flowers to break your fall, piro!"

"Made them? You made these flowers?" Nanako asked, looking around at the bed of flowers at her feet.

"That's right, piro! I can make flowers, trees, mushrooms! And I can change their color, piro!" Piro boasted as they held their paws out to the flowers. As it did, the jewel on its forehead glowed, and like a wave, the flowers changed color from orange to purple to pink.

"That's so cool!" Nanako gasped. "Is that your magic, Piro?"

"Magic? What's magic, piro?" Piro asked, understandably confused from all the new words being thrown at it. "I've always been able to do this. It's just something I can do, piro!"

"That looks like fun," Nanako said, mesmerized by the display, when she had an idea. "Say, if you can make flowers and trees, do you think you can make me some clothes? Like a pretty dress!"

"What's a dress?" Piro asked, tilting their head.

"Oh! Um…" Nanako reminded herself that Piro had never seen a human before, much less know what a dress was. She scrambled her brain thinking of how to describe one. Looking at the flowers, she had a flash of inspiration. "You think you can try putting the flower petals on me? Just stick them together and have them hang off my shoulders!"

"Hmm…that's different from what I usually do, but I can try, piro!" Piro nodded and raised their paws up. The green jewel started glowing again, and at once, the flowers around Nanako began to shake. The pink petals blew off the stems, and began to fly around her. Just as she said, the petals stuck together, starting at her shoulders and moving their way downward. Holding out her arms, she watched the dress form until it was just at her knees.

"You did it, Piro!" Nanako cheered, looking at the petal dress. "It's so pretty!"

"Hey, I did!" Piro replied, panting from exertion. As soon as they stopped focusing and the green jewel stopped glowing, however, the dress fell apart, and Nanako was left bare bottomed once again.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Well, petals don't stick together unless they're on the flower, piro," they explained. "Doing that really wore me out! I'm sorry, Nanako."

"That's okay, Piro. It was worth a try," Nanako said, petting Piro. "I just hope I don't get in trouble with Dad and Big Bro for walking around naked…"

"Dad? Big Bro? What are those, piro?" Piro asked with the most sincere curiosity.

"My family. They take care of me," Nanako answered. "They're not always around, but they do their best for me. And I do whatever I can to help them. That's why I have to get back home! Will you help me, Piro?"

"Well, I don't know where your home is," Piro said, putting a paw to their chin, "but I know where we can look, piro!"

"Really? Where?"

"The sky!" they answered. "Three things fell from the sky. One of them was you, piro! If that's where you came from, maybe you can find your home up there!"

"Three things, and one of them was me?" Nanako asked, to which Piro gave a confirming nod. "Where did those land?"

"Uh…" Piro flew up through the forest ceiling, and came back down a few seconds later. "They fell down that way, closer to the mountain from here, piro. Why?"

"Can we look there first?" she requested. "If I fell from the sky, then others like me probably fell down here too!"

"Others like you, piro? Maybe they can help you get home!" Piro perked up at the idea. They turned and flew quickly into the air. "Come on! Follow me, piro!"

"Wait!" Nanako called out. "I can't fly, remember?"

"Oh! Sorry, piro!" Piro giggled nervously after it flew back, scratching the back of their head. "That means we'll have to go the long way."

"What's the long way?" Nanako inquired.

"Up the mountain, piro," Piro answered. "There's a cave that goes inside and up to the top. From there, we might find the way home, piro!"

"I don't know about climbing a mountain. Mountains are really big," Nanako said, trembling slightly. "But if there's no other way, then that's where we're going to go! I want to find where the other two things landed first!"

"Okay, piro!" Piro flew over to Nanako and breathed intensely through their nose over her hair.

"What are you doing?" she asked, justifiably confused.

"Getting your scent, piro!" they answered. "If whatever fell is like you, then they'll smell the same as you! This will make finding them easier, piro!"

"I get it! Like a doggie!"

"Huh? I'm not a 'doggie'," Piro said, their ears tilted. "I'm Piro! Get it right!"

"Sorry," she laughed nervously. "Lead the way, Piro!"

Piro followed the scent darting back and forth trying to catch the trail, as Nanako walked behind them. This was all so surreal for her, almost like she was in a show or movie about a magical journey. The characters in those stories got to keep their clothes on, however. It didn't take long for her to get used to the feeling of the open air across her bare skin, but she secretly hoped she'd get something to wear and soon. She didn't know enough about making clothes, like Yu's friend Kanji, to make anything from the plants or flowers she passed by.

Thinking about her cousin's friends and her cousin himself, Nanako grew increasingly worried. Did they know where she was, alone and stark naked? How would they get here if she didn't know herself? She swore that she remembered they came to rescue her that time last year, but everything about it was such a blur, it felt more like a dream. They told her that she dreamt while she was sleeping, and that she had just gotten really sick. It always felt like they were hiding something, but she never felt it was her place to ask. One of those "grown up things" that she'd figure out when she was older. If they could talk to her right now, they'd probably tell her to stay where she was until they came.

But she couldn't stay. As scared as she was, she didn't want to just stay put. Yu, his friends and her father had done enough for her this past year alone. If they had to help her again, would they still want to be around her, or would they think she's too much trouble? An old fear began to grip her, one she hadn't felt since the months following her mother's passing. That feeling of loneliness, when everyone seemed to ignore her for one reason or another. The thought that it might happen again, just when things were picking up, caused her steps to slow until she just stopped. If she couldn't find her way back home…would everyone forget about her?

"Nanako!"

The sound of her name being called snapped her out of her depressing thoughts. Piro was way ahead of her, hovering in front of a small group of bushes. They quickly flew over to her with a smile on their face.

"What is it, Piro?" she asked.

"Your scent leads here, piro!" Piro replied. "And there's something there that I haven't seen before! Maybe you know what it is, piro!"

"Really? Let me see!" Nanako ran to where Piro lead her and stepped through the bushes. Beyond them was a small clearing, lit by the light coming through the leaves, with the biggest source of light coming from a large hole in the middle. Just like the one Nanako left when she fell into Piro's napping spot.

"Take a look at those, piro!" Piro flew to the middle of the clearing, where there lay two large…orbs? They looked like big black balls, embedded into the ground from the fall. "These don't look like you, Nanako. Do you know what these are, piro?"

"No. I've never seen these before…" Nanako shook her head in response as she slowly walked over to the orbs. She was expecting two other people, not…whatever these were. But even if they weren't what she was expecting, it was still worth a look. Maybe they could provide some clue about what was going on. Hesitantly, she placed her hands on the both of them. As soon as she did, the orbs began to glow brightly, nearly blinding her.

"Ahh! What did you do, piro?!" Piro asked, covering their eyes.

Nanako shielded her eyes as well, as the light shining reached a climax, before quickly dying down. When it finally disappeared, she looked to the orbs, only to find them gone. In their place were two naked children, curled up and fast asleep. One was a girl with short black hair, the other was a boy with brown messy hair. Even without clothes, Nanako quickly recognized the two as her classmates, the girl in particular being her best friend.

"Mai-chan! Mamoru-kun!" she cried.

"Huh? I thought these were Nanakos…"

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**Update 10/20/16: This one saw a lot of revisions. I thought it would be better for Nanako to start her journey away from where all the kids were kept. Also saving her persona's debut for later and getting right to her friends' introductions.**


	5. That Which Gives You Courage

**Okay, I know this chapter took longer than usual to get out, but that's okay. Why? Because this chapter got so long, I decided to split it into two chapters, so you're a double treat today, folks!**

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**Chapter 4: What's a Persona?**

There was no doubt about it. The two children sleeping before Nanako were her two classmates. What were they doing here? Why were they naked like her? Would they know how they got here? Many more questions popped in her mind before she could answer the first set. Just then, Piro piped up right next to her.

"Nanako!" it shouted.

"Wah! Oh, sorry," Nanako apologized.

"You were looking at them for a while, piro. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's just that…I know these two," Nanako pointed to the girl. "That's Mai. She's my best friend from school. And that's Mamoru, Mai's next door neighbor."

"Oh! Friends! I know that word, piro!" Piro perked its ears at hearing something familiar. "So you found your friends! Isn't that great, piro?"

"Kind of…" she sighed. "I don't know what they're doing here, but I think it might be the same reason I'm here. But I don't know what that reason is, and I don't think they do either."

"Why don't you ask them and find out?" Piro flew over to the sleeping girl and patting her head with its paw. "Hey! Wake up, piro!"

"Stop that!" Nanako snatched Piro out of the air. "Don't be so rude!"

It was already too late, as Mai had begun to stir and open her eyes. She sat up and groggily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, letting out a big yawn. Nanako let go of Piro and kneeled down to Mai's eye level as Mai turned her head towards a familiar figure.

"Na-chan? Is that you?" she said, greatly confused by Nanako's presence. Mai's eyes drifted downward, then back up. "Why are you naked? Were you taking a bath?"

"No, Mai-chan," Nanako sighed. "And you're naked too."

"Huh?" Mai looked down at herself and blinked. "Oh. Were we taking a bath?"

"We weren't taking a bath," Nanako affirmed. "We're not even at our house, Mai-chan."

"Really?" Mai then peered upward and her eyes grew wide. "Whoa…where are we, Na-chan?"

"WAAAH!" the sudden sound of a boy's scream caught the girls' attention. Looking next to them, it appeared that Mamoru had woken up. He quickly covered his red face with his hands, obstructing his own view. "I didn't see anything! I swear!"

"Momo-kun?" Mai asked. Before she could ask any more questions, Piro flew over to Mamoru, floating right in front of his face.

"Excuse me, piro. You're Mamoru, right?" it inquired. When Mamoru peeked through his fingers and saw the flying creature in front of him, he nearly fell over backwards. "How come you have a tail in front, but Nanako and Mai don't?"

"Huh?" Mamoru then realized his own state of undress and quickly crossed his legs and covered himself with his hands. "What the heck? Why are we naked? What are we doing here? What's going on?"

"Calm down, Mamoru-kun," Nanako said, grabbing Piro again to get it away from Mamoru's face. "This is Piro. They live here."

"Where is here?" Mamoru quickly asked.

"This is home, piro! Why doesn't anyone understand that?" Piro exclaimed, quite annoyed.

"Oh, they're so cute!" Mai took Piro from Nanako's hands and hugged it close to her. "So this is where you live? It's so pretty!"

"Thank you, piro! I try to keep it looking nice."

"I met Piro when I woke up here," Nanako explained. "They're gonna try to get us home."

"Okay, but why are we here in the first place?" Mamoru asked. "Did this thing bring us here?"

"Don't look at me, piro!" Piro snapped back at the accusation. "You're the ones intruding on my home! I don't remember inviting guests, piro!"

"Yeah, right! I'll bet it brought us here to eat us, and doesn't want our clothes getting in the way. That's why we're all naked!"

"How can you say such a thing?!" Mai asked, mortified. "Don't listen to him, Piro. Momo-kun's just jealous that you're cuter than he is!"

"Who'd be jealous of that thing?!"

"Stop it, you two!" Nanako finally shouted, silencing the rest of the group and causing Mai to let go of Piro. "Right now, we're far away from home. If all we're doing is fighting each other, we'll never get back."

"Sorry…" they both said.

"That's better," Nanako nodded. "Now, I have a question. Do you remember what you were doing before you woke up here? Anything that gives us some clue about how we got here?"

"Playing detective like your daddy, huh, Na-chan?" Mai giggled. "Well, I was at home with Mika-onee-chan. It was around…lunch time, because she was making food in the kitchen while I was in the living room watching TV. Then the TV started acting all funny…"

"Hey! My TV was acting weird too!" Mamoru chimed in. "I was playing games in my room. It started going like it was broken, and I was really mad because I hadn't saved my game in a while."

"What were you doing, Na-chan?" Mai asked.

"I was at home by myself, waiting for Dad to call home from work," Nanako started explaining. "Since all my homework was finished, and Big Bro's friends were all busy, all I could do was watch TV."

"Did the TV start acting funny for you too?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah. At first, I was afraid I broke it, and then it showed this light and made this noise…and then I woke up here," Nanako scratched her cheek in thought. "The only thing that happened to all three of us was that we were using the television before waking up here. That might have something to do with it."

"That's crazy!" Mamoru commented bluntly. "I know our parents always warn us not to watch too much TV, but they never said it was because we'd be taken someplace naked."

"But it's the only lead we have, Mamoru-kun!" Nanako insisted. "Besides, I…"

"What is it, Na-chan?" Mai asked when she noticed that her friend had trailed off.

"I remember something…from that time right before I was in the hospital."

"You do?! What is it? What do you remember?"

"Dad had taken Big Bro to the police station to ask him some questions after Big Bro got a letter in the mail. He was really angry at Big Bro for some reason," Nanako explained. "As I was waiting, someone came to the door. It was the delivery man."

"So…that delivery man did this…" Mamoru concluded.

"I'm not finished! Dad told me he was in jail, anyway!" Nanako exclaimed. "The delivery man put something to my face, and I got all sleepy. It's…a little fuzzy after that, but…I remember seeing a truck, and there was a TV in the back of it."

"Oh! I see what you're getting at!" Mai piped up. "You think the TVs are some kind of portal?"

"I'm not sure, but I definitely wasn't anywhere near Inaba after I saw the TV. I was…in a place high up in the sky, where I could touch the clouds. The floors were all white, and it was all so pretty. It was like…Heaven. Where Dad told me Mom was…"

"Na-chan…"

"Then the delivery man came and grabbed me while I was there. I wanted to run, but my body felt all numb. I couldn't do anything," Nanako continued. "After a while, Big Bro and his friends came. I remember seeing them. They were able to get me back, and then…"

"What? Is that it?" Mamoru asked.

"I was going in and out of sleep, and before I knew it, I was in the town hospital," Nanako finished. "I thought it was all a dream, and I had just gotten really sick, since that's what Big Bro told me what happened. But after waking up here, meeting Piro, and finding you guys, I don't think it was a dream…"

"Sure doesn't feel like a dream to me!" Mamoru said, wrinkling his nose. "As if I'd be dreaming about all of us being butt naked!"

"Are you embarrassed, Momo-kun?" Mai asked teasingly. "You and your friends take off your clothes and play in the river all the time."

"It's different with girls! You know that!" Mamoru shouted.

"Different how? You mean this?" Mai got up to her feet and put her hands on hips. With Mamoru at eye level with her waist, his face instantly turned crimson as he turned it away, causing Mai to start laughing. "I didn't think you were so shy, Momo-kun!"

"I'm not shy!" Mamoru stood up and stared Mai in the face. "See? Would I be doing this if I was shy?"

"No, but I got you to stand up!" Mai said with a smile.

"Ack! You tricked me!"

"Guys, please," Nanako implored, standing herself up. "This is serious. I really think what happened to me last year and what's happening now are connected. What if we're in that same place that I was taken to?"

"If that's true, then that means Yu-san knows where to find you, right?" Mai asked. "Why don't we wait for him to come get us?"

"No."

"Na-chan?"

"I'm not gonna stay here and wait to be saved this time!" Nanako said firmly. "I'm gonna get back home by myself! If Big Bro could get here and save me last time, then there has to be a way for me to get back! Isn't there, Piro?"

"Well, I've never been outside of this place, piro," Piro replied nervously. "I don't even know what outside looks like!"

"Oh, you'll love it!" Mai said to Piro. "There's shops and cars and TVs and people and all sorts of different stuff in Inaba!"

"I don't know what any of that is, but it sounds like fun, piro!"

"Then come with us, Piro! Oh, the kids at school are gonna be so happy when they see you!" Mai gushed. "Let's get back as soon as possible, Na-chan!"

"Yeah!" Nanako nodded. "What do you say, Mamoru-kun? Come with us! I know we'll find our way back home!"

"If the both of you are going, I guess I have to," Mamoru relented. "It's better than staying here…"

"Well, that's that!" Mai said. "We're all going home together! So, where do we start?"

"We were going to go to the top of the mountain, piro!" Piro answered. "The three of you fell from the sky, so if we can get up to the highest part, we can find where you came from, piro!"

"A mountain? We have to climb a mountain?" Mamoru asked.

"Piro said there was a cave we could use at the foot of the mountain," Nanako elaborated. "There's a way up from there."

"Well, that sounds better than climbing. Not by much, though," Mamoru sighed. "Alright. Let's get going. The sooner we get back home, the better!"

"Why don't you lead the way, Na-chan?" Mai suggested. "You found the two of us, and leaving here ourselves was your idea."

"You want me to be the leader?" Nanako asked. "Um…okay, but only if we all hold hands. We don't want to lose each other."

"Fine by me!" Mai nodded and quickly took Nanako's hand before holding out her other for Mamoru. "Come on, Momo-kun!"

"Right," Mamoru said sheepishly as he held Mai's hand. "If we get back home, this stays a secret between all of us."

Following Piro, the children stayed close together as they walked through the forest. It seemed to be a straight path to the mountain, not that they would need to go back for any reason. The three of them looked about for any unique landmarks, but there was only trees and bushes and dirt and rocks as far as they could see. The outright silence wasn't much of a comfort either.

"What kind of a place do you think this is?" Mamoru finally asked. "I know that thing said it was their home, but what does that mean? Especially if you've been here before, Nanako-chan."

"The place I was in was different, but this place…feels the same," Nanako replied. "I don't know how else to explain it. It just does…"

"This really feels like an anime," Mai mused out loud. "Being in another world, following some cute critter around. You think we'll get some kind of powers too?"

"What would we need powers for?" Mamoru asked. "It's not like there are any enemies to use it on."

"You don't need enemies to fight to get powers," Mai argued. "We could always try using them on each other."

"Mai-chan, you just don't get it," Mamoru sighed. "That's not how it works. It's first, the monsters come, then the main characters get powers. So far, the only thing we've come across is that flying plushie, and they aren't dangerous at all!"

Just then, the noise of several rustling bushes quickly caught the children's attention. Looking behind them, they found something disturbing the trees and bushes in the distance. Left and right it moved, almost as though it was in search of something.

"What was that?" Nanako said. "I thought you lived here by yourself, Piro!"

"I do, piro! Could it be another of you?" Piro asked.

As if to answer Piro's question, something came out of the bushes into their line of sight. A long black hand extended outward, gripping the ground hard enough to disturb it. Trailing behind it was a shadowy blob, a blue mask showing a face on top of it.

"That's definitely not a kid!" Mamoru exclaimed. Unfortunately, his outburst caught the blob's attention, the mask on it turning to look directly at the children.

"It's looking at us!" Mai said, backing away. "Do you think it's friendly?"

The black blob raised the face to the sky and let out a scream that chilled the three children to the bone. Immediately after, more bushes began to be moved about, this time from both sides of the monster. Two more blobs came out, and now all three were looking straight at them.

"Let's just guess that they're not!" Mamoru said. "RUN!"

Not even thinking twice, the girls ran after Mamoru, hoping to get away from the shadow monsters. They could hear a growl come from behind them, alerting them that the shadows were giving chase. Mai looked behind her for only a second, and saw that the shadows were quickly using those long hands to chase them.

"They're faster than they look!" she cried.

"What are those things, Piro?" Nanako asked their furry friend.

"I don't know, piro! I've never seen those things before! I just know they're scary looking, piro!" they shouted.

"Can't you do something to keep them from chasing us?"

"I have an idea! Everybody get close, piro!" they instructed. The children wasted no time huddling under Piro, as Piro spread their front paws outward. The green jewel on their forehead began to glow brightly, much brighter than Nanako had seen. With a grunt of effort, Piro raised their paws upward. "HRRRRNNGGRRAAAHH!"

Suddenly, roots sprouted from the ground around them, surrounding the children as they rose into the air. The roots twisted as they traveled, while keeping the children safe in a small space in the middle of the roots. There was little space between the roots, letting just the faintest bits of light through, but for the children, it only mattered that they were safe. Once finished, Piro let out a pant and stopped flying, dropping into Nanako's arms.

"Piro! Are you okay?" she asked.

"I've never done something that big before, piro," they tiredly panted out. "But it should keep those shadow things from getting us, piro."

"You did good, Piro," Mai said, petting Piro on the head. "I had no idea you could do that! That's an amazing power!"

"Hopefully, those things will give up and go away!" Mamoru said, trying his best to look out the gaps of the roots. "I don't see them. Maybe they gave up already?"

Answering Mamoru's question, one of the masks suddenly came into his view, causing him to stumble back. After regrouping, the children heard some kind of movement on the other side, before silence followed. The children listened intently for what else would happen, when a great pounding came at the roots. They held each other close, bracing for what would next. The root wall finally came down, revealing a monstrous looking giant plant. Three giant flowers extended from the top, holding a shadow's mask in the center of each of them.

"They combined! No fair!" Mai shouted.

"Now what do we do?! Can't you do something, Piro?" Nanako asked.

"I'm sorry, Nanako. That was my only plan, piro," they replied.

"That's just great. I'm gonna die in some weird forest butt naked…" Mamoru lamented.

The plant monster approached them, its roots slithering towards them. Fear permeated Nanako's entire being. This couldn't be the end for her. She didn't want to die now. Not before she could graduate from elementary school. Not before she could go to high school like Yu's friends. Not before she could see her big brother again...

"Big bro..." Nanako cried softly. The monster lunged with its flower heads towards the children. Nanako closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, but still prayed. "HELP ME!"

* * *

**Update 10/20/16: Another chapter that was majorly changed, setting up the mystery of the plot and heading into the danger.**


	6. PERSONA!

**Wow. Good thing you didn't have to wait long for how this turns out right? This is mostly a fight chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. Once again, any reviews, questions or favs are appreciated.**

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**Chapter 5: Sword and Ice**

Silence. It felt as though all sound suddenly ceased. Is this what death was like? Nanako thought it would be a little more painful, considering the circumstances. Cautiously, she opened her eyes, only to find the maw of the plant monster right in front of her.

"AAAH!" she screamed as she jumped back. After a second, she realized that it wasn't going any further, as if it had just stopped.

"Are we dead?" Mamoru asked before opening his eyes and seeing the same thing. "What the-?!"

"It stopped…" Mai said, cautiously approaching the monster's mandible. "Everything's stopped! Even Piro!"

The children looked to where Piro was, flying just above them. They were frozen in mid-air, their wings in the middle of flapping, and their front paws in front of their face. And most unusual, the entire area, including the monster and Piro, were colored a shade of blue. The children stood in awe of this spectacle, but couldn't understand how or why.

"This is getting weirder and weirder," Mamoru commented. "What's going on here?"

"It's like someone hit the pause button," Mai said, "but who?"

"Wait! I hear something…" Nanako said, signaling the others to stop talking.

From behind the monster, the children could hear the faint sound of footsteps. They grew louder, so whoever was making them was getting closer. A figure finally appeared next to the monster, approaching the children. It was an adult woman, with white hair and pale skin. Wearing clothes of deep blue, she looked upon them with her piercing yellow eyes and smiled.

"Uh…hey there, lady," Mamoru nervously said, suddenly wholly aware that he was naked in front of a beautiful woman.

"Greetings, young ones," the woman said. "It appears I am…just in time."

"Wait! I know you!" Nanako exclaimed, pointing at the woman. "You were at Big Bro's school festival last year! The fortune teller!"

"That's right!" the woman said with a grin. "Back then, I visited your world under the guise of a card reader. In reality, I am a servant of the Velvet Room, a space between worlds, mind and matter. My name is Margaret."

"Did you stop the monster, Margaret-san?" Mai asked. "Could you unfreeze Piro? They're our friend."

"I did, but it is only temporary. I don't have much time before I must leave this realm and time flows again here," Margaret answered. "I came here to offer you some help."

"Help? How?" Nanako asked.

"In the past, I assisted your cousin in the saving of many lives, including your own," Margaret said, kneeling down to meet the children at eye level. "But since you have decided to save yourself, you will need to be given the proper protection. The shadows here will not hesitate to bring you serious harm, and you must be prepared to fight them."

"You mean we'll get our powers after all?!" Mai gasped. "See, Momo-kun? I told you we'd get something!"

"Fine, you were right. I would have liked some clothes first, though," Mamoru whined.

"What are you giving us, Margaret-san?" Nanako asked the woman.

"The ability to turn your courage into power," Margaret replied. "The same power your cousin was given. The power of Persona."

"Persona…" Nanako repeated. "I remember…I heard Big Bro and his friends say that."

"How do we use it?" Mamoru asked.

"You must first draw from yourselves the courage to face the world and all its hardships," Margaret told them. "Nanako, do you recall the dream you had before you woke up here?"

"I do!" Nanako answered quickly. "I was at home, and Big Bro and Dad were there. And then…Mom was around too…"

"Really, Na-chan?" Mai exclaimed. "You had a dream about your mom?"

"Yeah, but…I knew it was a dream. Mom was gone, so I knew it couldn't be real."

"This world will attempt to draw you in with the promise of getting away from the world of strife and conflict, but it is only a prison," Margaret explained. "In that dream, you will only stagnate and never grow."

"Even if it was a nice dream, Big Bro and Dad, the real ones, are waiting for me to come home!" Nanako said resolutely.

"Good. You rejected the easy way out, and gathered to courage to face the real world," Margaret said and turned her face to Mamoru and Mai. "Are the two of you prepared to come back to the real world?"

"The real world's got homework, bullies, and mothers that won't let up on you," Mamoru said. "But…it's also got my friends, a nice dinner every night, and a warm bed to sleep in. And that I couldn't trade for anything in the whole world!"

"If I don't get out of here, I'll never get to be an amazing girl like my sister," Mai said. "Dad always said there were no shortcuts in life. I'll work hard so I get to be the girl I dreamed of!"

Suddenly, a light shone in front of the three children. An orb of light floated in front of their eyes, waiting to be grasped. Margaret looked upon this and smiled once more.

"Congratulations. You've remembered your courage, and now it shall protect you," she said. "The moment you touch that light, time will resume, and you will be thrust into battle. Are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Ready as I'll ever be!"

"Bring it on!"

At once, the children took the light into their hands. On cue, the light exploded in intensity, creating a great wind that blew around the children. The monster was blown back and off its base, toppling over on its side. Piro, upon seeing this, blinked in surprise and confusion.

"What happened, piro? I wasn't looking," they said and looked down at the children. "Hey, what's that?"

The children looked at their hands to find themselves now holding cards. There was a design of a mask on the back of it, and nothing than a blue background on the front. The children looked at the back and front repeatedly, wondering what they had.

"Is this it? How does it work?" Mamoru asked. "We better figure it out quick before that thing gets back up!"

"Uh…right!" Nanako recalled from her faint memories of her rescue by Yu. She raised her card above and took a deep breath. "Call out for it like this!"

"Okay!" Mai and Mamoru both nodded and did the same. As they raised their cards, the monster managed to push itself off the floor. All at once, the children shouted.

"PERSONA!"

The card in Nanako's hand glowed brightly, as what appeared to be long strips of golden white cloth emerged from the light and wrapped around her, encasing her in a kind of cocoon. From out of the cocoon emerged an ethereal woman with long white hair, wearing a white kimono with golden flowers adorning the bottom and a fox mask on her face. Atop her head was a pair of fox ears, and behind her, an array of fox tails unfurled. The woman floated before the monster and spoke in a form that resonated in the children's minds.

Thou art I, and I art thou. From the sea of the soul, I have come to protect you. I am Tamamo-no-Mae, the fox-eared maiden.

As the card in Mamoru's hand glowed, leaves appeared in a circle under his feet, before folding upward and engulfing him. When the leaves opened again, there was a giant pink peach in place of the boy. The peach broke into sections and unfolded into a man-like figure, the peach sections becoming like samurai armor. The samurai summoned a long katana, and pointed it at the monster.

I am Momotaro, the destined demon slayer.

Mai found herself encased in an ice crystal, that quickly formed around her once she summoned her persona. The crystal floated into the air before shattering, revealing a woman. She wore a blue dress, with a long dragon's tail coming out from the bottom in place of legs. Long dragon horns branched out like antlers from her dark green hair, as she held a decorative mirror in her clawed hands.

I am Otohime, the dragon princess.

"Wooow…those look amazing, piro!" Piro watched in utter awe at the children's persona. "But where did you all go, piro?"

"In here," Nanako's voice shouted, "inside Tamamo!"

"How did you do that, piro?!"

"This is the power that Big Bro used when he rescued me!" she answered. "Though, it wasn't quite like this."

"This is so cool!" Mamoru exclaimed from inside Momotaro. "It's like I'm piloting a giant robot!"

"Not only that," came Mai's voice, "but I feel…safe here. Like I'm not scared anymore."

"Margaret-san did say that these would protect us," Nanako pointed out.

"Who's Margaret?" Piro asked, when they heard the roar of the monster as it finally recovered.

"Oh, right. Monster," Mamoru said. "Get ready, everyone! Here it comes!"

The monster once again lunged at the children with its flower heads. At once, Momotaro dodged to their right, while Otohime dodged to their left. Tamamo, taking a different route, leapt over the monster and landed behind it, the sound of Nanako screaming being heard as they did.

"Are you okay, Na-chan?" Mai called out.

"Yeah. I just wasn't expecting that…" Nanako answered shakily.

"Guess it's not like piloting a giant robot, but more like being inside a monster you command," Mamoru surmised. "I can work with this!"

"So we command these personas to fight for us?" Mai asked. "How do they do that?"

To answer Mai's question, Otohime held her mirror out in front of her. Light poured out of the mirror's reflection, followed by a large ice crystal. The crystal quickly shattered, and every single piece of ice seemed to fly with a mind of its own towards the monster, slicing at it with every shard.

"So that's it!" Mai exclaimed. "I just thought about attacking the monster, and Otohime attacked it!"

"That easy, huh?" Mamoru mused. "What can we do, Momotaro?"

In response to Mai's attack, the monster let out a roar and launched several barbed vines from its body. Quick as a flash, Momotaro intercepted the vines, sword drawn. With what appeared to be a single slash, the vines were sliced apart. The monster fell back at its attack being countered.

"Thank you, Momo-kun!" Mai tweeted.

"You talking to me or my persona?"

"Good job, you guys!" Nanako cheered.

"Don't just stand there, Na-chan! Join in! This 'Persona' stuff is fun!" Mai called out to her friend.

"Uh, right!" Nanako nodded. "Tama-chan, let's help out!"

Tamamo nodded and spread her arms wide open. Small blue flames appeared in a circle in front of her as she swung her arms to cross them. Sensing an attack, the monster turned towards Tamamo and attempted a rush attack, barreling towards her. With a forward thrust of her hands, the flames launched out and exploded on contact with the monster, setting it ablaze.

"You got fire powers?! Awesome!" Mamoru cheered.

"It looks like it didn't like that one bit!" Mai pointed out, watching the monster flail about, trying to put out the fire. "Maybe they'll appreciate a little cooling off!"

Otohime raised her mirror above her head, light shining from the reflection once more. This time, a cold wind surrounded the monster, putting out the flames, but also slowing it down. Eventually, the monster's movements stopped altogether and the cold wind dispersed, leaving it frozen solid.

"Now it's ready for the final blow!" Mamoru shouted as Momotaro lunged towards the monster. With one big downward slice, the monster was cleaved in half! "Hey, Nanako! You know what happens when a monster gets defeated in Featherman, right?"

"Right!" Nanako replied. "They explode!" Tamamo put out her open hand towards the monster, a single flame appearing in her palm. She promptly clenched her fist, extinguishing the small flame, and as she did, the very air around the monster exploded. As the explosion dissipated, black chunks of ooze drooped onto the ground, and quickly evaporated away. The monster was no more.

"You did it, piro!" Piro shouted, coming out from their hiding spot. "It's gone!"

"Couldn't have done it without our personas!" Mamoru said.

"And we wouldn't have gotten them if we didn't have courage!" Mai said with a smile.

"Mmhmm! Thank you so much, Tama-chan!" Nanako thanked her persona. Tamamo nodded, and began to fade away in specks of light, as did Momotaro and Otohime. The children felt themselves float back onto the ground. Once the light subsided, Piro looked back at the children, their eyes growing wide in wonderment.

"Oooh! What are those, piro?"

Nanako looked down at herself and gasped. She was now wearing a short yukata, gold with white flowers adorning the pattern. It came down to her knees to allow her easy movement, and felt very comfortable. Looking behind her, she noticed a fox tail poking out from under the obi that actually moved. Feeling her head, she found she had a pair of fox ears sticking out of her head.

"It's so cute!" she cried. "Tamamo must've given me these clothes!"

"Not bad, not bad," Mai looked at her new ensemble. It was a simple blue one-piece swimsuit with a white bar on the chest that read, "Iwadoki" across it. Along her waist was attached a transparent blue coat tail, with a similar shawl that was draped across her shoulders. "I like it!"

"Oh, come on!" Mamoru saw the clothes made for him and balked. It was just a simple jinbei, comfortable and easy to move around in. It would have been perfect in Mamoru's eyes if it was not a very noticeable shade of pink.

"Would you rather not have clothes at all, Momo-kun?" Mai teased.

"Grr...I guess I'll take it..." Mamoru relented.

"Ahhh...these are so pretty!" Piro said flying around and checking out their ensembles. "So, these are clothes, piro?"

"That's right! It's not what we usually wear, but they're good enough," Nanako answered. "Thank goodness! I was afraid we would have to go the whole way naked!"

"You said it! I think that would have been more than Momo-kun could stand!" Mai teased.

"Shut up!" Mamoru snapped back, his face red. "But…you two do look good."

"You're such a charmer, Momo-kun," Mai laughed. "So, Piro, now that that monster's taken care of, let's keep heading towards that mountain!"

"We won't have to go far, piro! We're already here!" Piro said. Moving aside some of the trees and bushes, Piro revealed the mouth of a giant cave.

"Whoa…that's where we need to go?" Mamoru said nervously.

"You scared, Momo-kun?" Mai teased again.

"I'm not scared!" Mamoru exclaimed. "Though, we should hold hands…just so we don't get lost."

"Whatever you say," Mai giggled. "Come on, Leader! Let's get going!"

"Right!" Nanako nodded. Hand in hand, the children began their venture into the cave. As the light from the outside got further away from them, Nanako told herself to remain resolute, 'I'll get home, Big Bro. Just you wait and see!'

* * *

In another area of the forest, there flowed a river. It delivered an air of serenity and peace unlike few have ever known. The sound of the river running was the only sound that could be heard throughout the entire forest.

Just off of this river, lay a little boy with silver gray hair. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up, taking in the air of the area around him. As he peered across his environment, only one thing crossed his mind:

"Where...am I?"

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**Next time, we'll see how the Investigation Team's doing after that little incident three chapters back. See you then!**

**Update 10/20/16: You might have noticed that not only are the persona's designs are updated, but the method is different as well. I had thought about this one for a while, finally settling on the idea that the personas do all the fighting while the children are safe inside. Also replaced Elizabeth with Margaret, as I felt it fit better. Let me know what you think!**


	7. New and Familiar Faces Part 1

**I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to put out. Been swamped with other projects, and I couldn't get my mind together enough to just sit down and finish this. But here it is, and I hope you enjoy it!**

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**Chapter 6: New and Familiar Faces Part 1**

This was definitely not the boy's room. He was certain the last thing he did was go to bed in his own room. So how did he end up all the way into this dense forest that now surrounded him on all sides? He carefully got to his feet, feeling sore, like he had just tried to run a marathon. He knew for a fact he didn't, so now there were even more questions.

Scratching his head in confusion, he noticed that his hair was a little wet, and his skin felt somewhat damp. A couple feet from him, he saw a river flowing by, just shallow enough to put his feet in. He figured that he must have fallen in somehow, and that was why he felt wet. It still didn't answer how he came to be here in the first place.

Sitting himself up, he felt something slip off his back. Looking down, his heart skipped a beat and his eyes grew wide as he found that he was completely naked! He knew for sure he was wearing his pajamas when he went to bed last night. Looking at what was on his back, he found a white dress shirt that seemed way too big for him, but he didn't have the luxury of choice, so he slipped it on.

Quickly fastening the buttons, he grew more uneasy as more factors revealed themselves. He was alone in this forest, wearing nothing but a large shirt, and there didn't appear to be any clear path anywhere he looked. He wanted to just sit down and cry, but he knew that wouldn't solve anything. If there was anything his parents taught him, (and they didn't teach him much) it was to be resilient in these times. He smacked his cheeks, trying to snap himself out of his anxiety so he could focus on how to get home.

He reviewed the facts. Somehow, and some point in the night, he fell into this river and washed up in this forest. Questions regarding how that happened and why there was a large shirt on him would have to wait. So long as the shirt covered his bare bottom, he was fine if anyone saw him. At the moment, his main priority was getting home. Looking down at the river, he remembered from school that rivers were often places people would gather to either camp or live. If he followed it downstream, he was confident it would lead him to some adults who could tell him where he was and how to get back home.

It was strange being in such a heavily wooded area. The only places the boy had ever been to was different cities. No big trees as far as he could see, no dirt and leaves moving beneath his feet as he stepped along the river's edge. Everything about this was completely new to him, and while it was interesting enough that this wasn't the boring halls of his school, he would've preferred if his parents were nearby to make sure he didn't fall into any danger. His thoughts went to his parents, wondering if they even noticed he was gone. He was so lost in thought that he almost didn't hear someone was calling him.

"Hey! You!"

The gray haired boy stopped in his tracks when he heard a voice calling for his attention. His eyes darted left and right, unsure of where it came from, until he noticed a head peeking out from behind one of the trees. It was a boy with short and spiky brown hair with matching eyes who appeared to be the same age as him.

"Can you help me?" the boy asked, trying his best to hide his bare shoulders and red face. "Do you know where I am?"

The gray haired boy shrugged his shoulders and made an accompanying noise signifying that he didn't know. "I don't know how I got here either."

"Really? So you're lost too," the brown haired boy lamented.

"I'm looking for a way out," the gray haired boy informed the other. "I'm Yu Narukami. What's your name?"

"Yosuke Hanamura," the other boy shyly answered. "When you find a way out, could you come back and tell me?"

"Why don't come with me instead?" Yu asked. "It'd be easier that way, and you'd get back home faster."

"I'm fine staying right here…" Yosuke replied, his voice trailing off.

"Don't you want to get home as soon as possible?" Yu asked, genuinely concerned. He approached the tree Yosuke was hiding behind, only to have the boy duck out to the other side. "What's wrong?"

"I-I can wait. Really, I can," Yosuke said. "You just go ahead and find a way out."

"I don't want to just leave you here," Yu said, trying again to reach Yosuke on the other side, just to have to him get away. "We don't know what's in this forest. It's safer to go together. That's what all the grown ups tell us!"

"I know, but…!" Yosuke stammered, just barely evading Yu by going around the tree. He was so busy between trying to remain hidden and engaging in conversation with Yu, he didn't notice that Yu switched directions on him until he ran smack into the boy. The collision caused the both of them to fall down.

Rubbing his forehead, Yu took quick notice of why Yosuke was trying to hide from him. The poor boy was completely naked, just like himself when he first woke up. When Yosuke saw that he was discovered, he quickly put his hands between his legs.

"D-Don't look!" he cried.

"Why are you naked?" Yu asked, getting back up to his feet.

"I didn't take my clothes off! I just woke up like this!" Yosuke shouted in response, seemingly under the impression he wouldn't be believed.

"So did I. I don't know where this shirt came from, but it's not mine," Yu said, looking down at his extra-large garment.

"If it's not yours, can I borrow it?" Yosuke inquired.

"But this is the only thing I have. If I gave it to you, then I'd be naked," Yu quickly replied. "If I could find this, then there's probably more clothes around."

Yu looked around himself and Yosuke for anything the boy might use to at least cover himself. The leaves on the bushes and the trees were too small, so that was out. He looked back out at the water flowing and spied something on the other side. Underneath a bush was what looked like cloth. Could it be?

"There!" Yu pointed and ran through the water. Grabbing the cloth, he pulled at it to find a large white shirt with orange rims at the sleeves. "How's this, Yosuke-kun?"

"Where'd you find that?" Yosuke shouted back, still attached to the tree.

"It was over here on the other side," Yu answered. "You never looked here?"

"I've been too scared to move since I woke up," Yosuke said bashfully. "It looks big, but I'll take it."

Yu walked back over the water and handed the shirt over to Yosuke. Without hesitation, Yosuke grabbed the shirt and slipped it on, only having a little trouble with the holes. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it hung just at his knees.

"Thanks," Yosuke said, shuffling nervously. "Why would you do this for someone you just met?"

"Well…" Yu began, scratching his head while he tried to find his words, "I haven't stayed in any place long enough to make any friends at school. I know it's weird, but…I just thought that finding someone else here meant I would finally find one."

"Really? You want to be my friend?"

"Sure!" Yu said with a smile. "You're really funny, Yosuke-kun!"

"I wasn't trying to be," Yosuke grumbled, red in the face again, "but if you want to be my friend, it'd be stupid to say no."

"Cool! So, should we get going?" Yu asked, extending his hand.

"Yeah!" Yosuke replied, taking Yu's hand. "Let's go, Yu-kun!"

Together, the two boys walked along the river's path, under Yu's advice that it could lead to the ocean. It was rather straightforward for most of the time the two boys walked, the only change being that it got slightly deeper. There was still no sign of anything resembling human civilization, which made them worry just a bit. As frightening as it was, they had no choice but to keep going.

"Anything look familiar yet, Yu-kun?" Yosuke asked after some time.

"Nuh-uh," Yu replied. "I've never been in the woods. I only ever read about it."

"Same here. I live in the city," he said. "Last thing I remember was going to bed at home. What about you?"

"Yeah, the same," Yu nodded. "I hope my folks don't think I ran away from home…"

"That's so weird. You don't think aliens kidnapped us and dropped us off here, do you?" Yosuke asked with all the seriousness one would expect from a seven year old.

"Aliens? Maybe..." Yu stroked his chin as he thought of that possibility. "But what about-?"

Suddenly, something caught Yu and Yosuke's eye, cutting their conversation short. Floating in the river past them was what appeared to be a giant ball of auburn colored hair. Looking closer, the hairball was actually another child, being washed away by the river.

"Oh no! I don't think they can swim!" Yosuke shouted. "Grab them!"

Yu nodded in agreement as the both of them hurried ahead of the body. The water was deep enough to carry the child's body as they floated on their back, but only came up to the boys' waists, allowing them to wade in it without worry. Taking an arm each, Yu and Yosuke pulled the child out of the water and safely on the ground nearby.

"Phew! Good work, Yu-kun!" Yosuke panted out, dropping to his knees.

"Thanks, Yosuke-kun!" Yu replied, sitting down and giving Yu a thumbs up. "But who's this?"

The boys looked over to the child they dragged out of the water. Like they were earlier, this child didn't have any clothes on. Not only that, but the softer face and figure made them realize something, only being confirmed when their eyes drew down to the child's waist. They both blushed intensely and quickly turned around.

"Oh my gosh! It's a girl, Yu-kun!" Yosuke said in a hushed tone. "A naked girl! You ever seen one before?"

"Nuh-uh! I'm an only child," Yu responded in a similar tone. "You saw that too, right? She didn't have…"

"Yeah, I saw! I mean, I knew boys and girls had to be different under their clothes, but I didn't think it'd look like that! You think that's why we have different bathrooms at school?"

"Probably," Yu answered.

"Oh, man! What do we do?" Yosuke asked rhetorically in panic. "What if she isn't friendly and thinks we kidnapped her?"

"I don't know…" Yu answered, holding his head. "We can't just leave her sleeping here. I don't want her to be alone, but…"

"Excuse me…" a tiny voice rang out behind them, startling the boys.

"AAAHH!" Yu and Yosuke gave out a short scream as they turned around to find that the girl had woken up on her own and was now in front of them. She recoiled back at their screaming, and looked like she was about to run away.

"Oh! Sorry for screaming," Yu composed himself. "It's okay. We're not gonna hurt you."

The girl uncoiled and looked up and down at the boys before looking at herself. "Why am I naked?"

"Uh…beats me," Yu answered. "We found you like that."

"We pulled you out of the river," Yosuke answered. "We saved from getting washed away."

"You did? Thank you so much!" the girl beamed and grabbed both Yu and Yosuke in a hug, causing them to get even redder. "My name is Rise Kujikawa. I'm six years old. What are your names?"

"My name is Yu Narukami, and this is Yosuke Hanamura. We're both seven," Yu introduced themselves. "Do you have any idea where we might be, Rise-chan?"

"Hmm…" Rise looked at the trees. "It kind of looks like the woods around Inaba."

"What's Inaba?" Yosuke asked.

"It's where my grandma lives. She owns a tofu shop there," Rise informed the boys as she turned to face the water. "This looks like the woods around the town. That probably means this is the Samegawa river!"

"How did we end up all the way out here?" Yu asked, scratching his head. "Did we fall in the river somehow?"

"I don't know. I've never been this far from the town," Rise answered. "Grandma says I shouldn't go too deep in the river. But I guess I did, and now I'm lost…"

"Hey, don't worry," Yu reassured Rise, placing his hands on her shoulders. "We'll find a way back home. Do you know if this river goes to the ocean?"

"It does!" Rise gasped, as though she had just remembered this fact. "There's a beach near Inaba that people go to. Come on!" Without another word, Rise took off in the direction the river flowed.

"Wait for us, Rise-chan!" Yu followed after her, trying to keep pace.

"Oh! Right! We should hold hands!" Rise let the boys catch up to her and took one hand in each of hers. "Grandma says it's important to stay together!"

The trio started their way down the river, hand in hand to make sure they didn't get separated. As strange as everything had been since he woke up in this forest, Yu felt a sense of safety walking with these two. A feeling he swore he felt before, but couldn't quite get a grasp on where. He decided that he'd figure it out later, when (or if) he got back home.

Eventually, the river grew deeper as they continued on, now looking like they would be up to their shoulders if they ever stepped in it. The children thought it best to stay a fair distance, just in case one of them slipped. That was when Rise piped up when she saw something.

"Hey, look!" she shouted, pointing to a rock jutting out of the middle of the river. Stuck on the rock appeared to be an orange cloth. "That looks like clothes!"

"How did that get there?" Yosuke mused out loud. "It doesn't look like we can get to it. The water's running pretty fast. One wrong move, and we'd be swept away."

"Oh…but it looks pretty…" Rise whined.

"Hang on," Yu said, stepping ahead of the other two. There was a tree rooted right next to the river, its branches hanging above the water. "I got an idea. I can climb over to that branch and just get on that rock."

"You sure that's safe?" Yosuke asked. "This isn't like the water we dragged Rise-chan out of. If there are more rocks ahead..."

"I'll be fine," Yu affirmed. "All I have to do is grab it. The water's just deep enough where I can walk through with my head still above it."

"This is still crazy," Yosuke bluntly commented. "We don't have to get it. Rise-chan doesn't mind not having anything. We can just wait until we get to the beach."

"And what if it becomes night before we get there? Rise-chan could freeze to death!" Yu snapped back. Yosuke recoiled at that, not realizing that it may take longer than a day before they found anyone.

"Alright. But, be careful," he finally grumbled.

Yu nodded in confirmation and started towards the tree. He had experience with climbing one, so finding his way up was not a difficult task. Before long, he was already at the thickest branch, which was the one he needed to get over the water. Yosuke and Rise watched with anticipation and worry as Yu gingerly crawled along the branch like a cat.

Once he was above the rock, Yu carefully and slowly climbed down feet first. Brought down by his weight, the branch he was holding onto bent slightly, giving him some pause as he heard the wood creak. When he saw that it still held, he exhaled and reached for the rock with his feet. He was still too short to reach it still hanging on to the branch, so with a deep breath, Yu let go and landed on the rock in one movement.

"You did it!" Rise cheered.

"Don't scare me like that, Yu-kun!" Yosuke shouted to him. "Grab that thing and get going!"

Yu nodded again and bent down carefully to pull the cloth off the rock. Unfortunately, it didn't come off in one pull. Another tug showed Yu that it was stuck on another rock under the water. This didn't seem like too much of a problem. All he had to do was pull a little harder, but not too hard as to rip the fabric. With one more forceful tug, Yu released the garment from under the rock…and propelled himself backwards right into the water.

"YU-KUN!" Yosuke shouted after him. Immediately, he and Rise dashed towards the river as Yu's head breached the water's surface gasping for air.

"I thought the water wasn't that deep!" Rise said worriedly.

"It's not, but it's going too fast! Yu-kun can't get a grip on the ground!" Yosuke explained. "Yu-kun! Try to swim over here! We'll grab you!"

Yu managed to hear Yosuke over the sound of the water. He didn't quite know how to swim, but he knew what it looked like. Yu held onto the garment with one hand as he moved his arms through the water. He could see Yosuke step into water up to his waist, holding his hand out. Yu was barely able to get his hand up to him before he felt himself submerge again.

As soon as he felt the grip of Yosuke's hands on his wrist, Yu moved his legs until he felt the ground again. His feet slipped through the dirt, making him fall, but he still felt himself being pulled. Finally, in one last effort, Yu was brought out of the water, and back onto the bank. Rolling over onto his back, Yu held out the garment, which turned out to be a dress with yellow flowers on the bottom, still gripped in his hand.

"Got it," was all that Yu could manage to pant out.

"You idiot!" Yosuke cried, on his knees next to Yu. "Don't you ever do that again! You had me freaked out, you know?"

"Yu-kun!" Rise hugged Yu in a combination of fear and joy. "You're okay, right Yu-kun?"

"Yeah," he breathed out. "Do you like it?"

"Mm-hmm!" Rise nodded, wiping away her tears. "I'll never take it off! I promise!"

"Why don't we take a break?" Yosuke suggested, still catching his breath. "I've had enough excitement for a while. That thing needs to dry out anyway. "

Once Yu was able to walk again, they made their way just a small distance further down the river, until it got calmer and a little more shallow. Finding a bush capable of supporting a laid out garment, they placed Rise's dress onto it, spread out so as to ensure that it would dry completely with time. Yosuke then noticed Yu was unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"My shirt's soaked. I'm gonna let it dry with Rise-chan's dress," Yu explained matter-of-factly. "You should let your shirt dry too. You got pretty wet saving me."

"B-But then, we'd all be naked!" Yosuke complained, his face flushed red.

"So?" Yu shrugged and laid his shirt out on the bush. "Rise-chan's been naked since we got here. It wouldn't be fair if we didn't get naked."

"Yeah!" Rise giggled as she hugged Yu from the side. "Besides, I've seen boys naked before. Grandma likes to take me to the bath house in Inaba, and I see boys there with their moms."

"That explains it. Well, you go on ahead," Yosuke said, waving them off. "I'm just fine."

Yu and Rise looked at each other briefly and exchanged a mischievous smile. Without any word of warning, Yu went behind Yosuke and looped his arms under Yosuke's, locking them in place. Rise rushed up to Yosuke and grabbed his shirt, quickly yanking it off of him as Yu let go.

"Banzai!" the both of them shouted. Rise gleefully placed the shirt right next to Yu's, giggling as she saw Yosuke turn red.

"This is embarrassing…" he groaned.

"Relax. You'll feel better by the time the clothes are done," Yu reassured him. Laying down right where he stood, he stretched his arms and let out a big yawn. "I'm gonna take a rest. All that swimming wore me out."

"A nap sounds really good right now," Rise nodded, walking up to Yu and laying right next to him, her head resting on his chest. "Mmm…it feels warm."

"Hey. Make room for me!" Yosuke whined as he came up to Yu's other side and settled up against him. Thinking it a little strange to be cuddled up with another boy, he shuffled a bit until his back was facing Yu. Rise was right about how warm it was, and it helped him relax until he closed his eyes.

Yu simply had a smile on his face. For the first time, he felt at peace, laying next to his two new friends. It was a foreign word to him, but one he greatly coveted. Even under the strangest of circumstances, he was happy with where he was. Inside his heart, he hoped that he wouldn't have to say goodbye to them for good when they managed to get home. He was happy, and that's all that mattered to him as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Update 10/20/16: Changed events a bit, added in a bit of a more dramatic moment. Also gave Yu's attitude a tweak, since I felt 7 years old was a bit too soon to be morose and stoic.**


	8. New and Familiar Faces Part 2

**I like to think I got a good thing going with this draft. Let me know what you think!**

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**Chapter 7: New and Familiar Faces Part 2**

It felt like some time before Teddie's bear suit stopped rolling in the water. Dazed, he felt for the ground and became extremely relieved when he was able to feel it beneath him. He was able to garner enough strength to get up to his feet.

"Phew. If that's what water slides are like, I never want to go on one!" he said. He kept his ears out for a response, but didn't hear one. "Kanji-kun? Nao-chan? Are you ther-Whoa!"

As Teddie tried to take a step, he felt himself become very unbalanced. He thought that he might have still been dizzy, but the sound of sloshing water told him otherwise. His arms flailed around as he tried to right himself.

"Ahh! I guess I drank too much! I'd better let some of this out," Teddie said as he bent over to unzip his suit head. As he did so, all the weight shifted to one side, causing to fall over. His entire body collapsed onto the ground, and his head popped straight off.

Water came gushing out of the suit, along with his human form. Rolling onto his stomach, Teddie rose to his knees, coughing up a storm. When he was finally coherent enough to look around himself, the first thing he noticed was his suit head going down the river.

"WAAH! Come back, head!" Teddie quickly got to his feet and ran to catch up to his head, but he was already out of breath. Exhausted, he fell back to his knees and could only watch helplessly as his bear head washed away until it was out of sight.

"Oh, great!" he moaned. "Nana-chan's in danger, and what's the first thing I do?! Get separated from the rest of the team and lose my head! I was in such a rush to leave, I forgot to pack my human clothes, too! Now, I have to schlep around this place bare-bottomed. Huh?"

Teddie paused when he saw his reflection in the water. He could swear he must've been going crazy, or that the flow of the water was messing with the reflection. Looking back at him was a naked little boy with blond hair like his. It couldn't be, but it had to be him!

"I…I shrunk! I'm a kid now!" he screamed, shooting straight up to his feet in shock. Looking over his new body, smoother and smaller than the one he had before he came to one conclusion.

"I'm more adorable than ever! Wait, no! That's not right! How the heck did this even happen?!" Teddie's first thought was that it might have been the water that did it. He remembered hearing about a "fountain of youth" before from people around town, but they were just talking about some fairy tale. Just to be safe, Teddie made a note to himself not to drink any of the water.

"Hmm…still smells like the world inside the TV…so we didn't go anywhere else…" he said after sniffing the air. He tried to catch the scent of the others, but the water's scent was too strong, and the sudden chill made him sneeze.

"ACHOO! Ugh, I didn't think it would be this cold out in the woods. How do bears in nature put up with this?" he asked out loud, shivering and rubbing himself to keep warm. "Oh, right! They have a fur coat! My head's gone, but I can still use this!"

Teddie walked back over to where the rest of his suit still laid on the ground, now flat and floppy from nothing inhabiting it. Lifting it, or trying to, proved to be difficult as all the water it absorbed made it even heavier. The fact that Teddie's body was now that of a child didn't help matters either.

"Eugh! I can't wear this! It's all soggy!" Teddie cringed. "I'd better let this dry off!"

Finding a nearby tree away from the water, Teddie laid out his costume and spread it out, hoping that would help it to dry. He already found himself worn out from the exercise and sat himself next to his suit. A worried look came across as his face, watching the river flow by.

"Only thing I can do now is wait for this to dry…" he sighed. "I hope the others are okay. I wonder if they got turned into kids too. Hmm…what did they look like when they were little?"

* * *

The sound of flowing water was the first thing the boy heard before he opened his eyes. He thought that maybe his mother had dragged him out of bed and was getting ready to splash water on him. There was something weighing down on his chest, and whatever it was, he had his arms wrapped around it. What could it be?

As he opened his eyes, it felt like his world was flooded with light. He let go of whatever he was holding and rubbed his eyes so they would adjust. At the same time, he felt the weight lift off from his chest, which he attributed to his mom getting it off for him. But when his eyes finally adjusted and he could see clearly, it wasn't his mother, but the face of a child with blue hair he was staring into.

"AAAAHH!"

The both of them screamed at the sight of someone unfamiliar. The other child launched themselves back while the boy scooted backward to give himself room to sit up. After that, they could only stare at each other in confusion, wondering what was going on.

The boy took a long look. The soft features and shape of the other child's face told him this was a girl. Girls were something of a foreign creature to the boy, so how he wound up sleeping next to one and holding them was beyond his guessing. Looking downward, the boy's eyes traveled down from her bare shoulders to her exposed stomach to…to…

His face turning red as a tomato, he turned his face away from the girl. After all, his mother did say it was rude to stare at a girl who didn't have her clothes on. Using his hand to block his view, he looked down near the ground only to discover that he didn't have any clothes on himself! Turning even redder, he spun himself around so his back was facing the girl.

What a development! Waking up holding a girl while the two of them were completely naked? How in the world did this happen? He felt like he was being especially rude, remembering the lessons on modesty his mother drilled into him. That's right! He needed to apologize to her! The boy took a deep breath in preparation.

"I'm sorry!"

The two children apologized to each other at the same time. The boy was surprised by this, since it was unexpected that she would apologize too. Instinctively, he turned his head to find that the girl had also turned her back to him.

"Huh? Why are you sorry?" he asked.

"I…I didn't mean to stare," the girl answered. "I've never seen a boy naked before, and I couldn't help it."

"Yeah…I never saw a naked girl, either," the boy replied sheepishly. "On top of that, I was naked in front of you too, and I know that's a rude thing to do."

"It's okay. If we're both naked, I guess we're both being rude," she simply said, causing the both of them to nervously laugh a little. A moment of silence followed soon after before she remembered to introduce herself. "Oh! My name is Naoto Shirogane! What's yours?"

"Uh…Kanji Tatsumi," the boy replied.

"A pleasure to meet you, Kanji-kun!" Naoto said as she got up and walked over to the other side, now facing the boy. Kanji, now at eye level with her waist, blushed and turned his face away. "It's okay if you look. We shouldn't stay here, and if we're gonna walk together, we'll…have to look at each other to make sure we don't get lost."

"You sure?" Kanji asked, peering at Naoto's face, which was slightly red at the thought. She nodded in reply, even though she looked like she would rather not. Even so, she had a point that it was no use just sitting around waiting for somebody to come. He mustered up his courage and stood up to meet her face to face. "Okay."

"Yes," Naoto nodded again. "Um…does this place look at all familiar to you?"

Looking all around them, the children took notice of their surroundings. Nothing but trees and bushes dominated their view, save for the flowing river next to them. Kanji rubbed his chin, looking back and forth from the trees to the river. Naoto paid close attention, as it seemed he had some idea.

"It looks like the forest around Inaba," Kanji finally said. "That's my hometown. There's a river that flows near the town's edge. I don't know if it's up the stream or down the stream, though…"

"Hmm…going by the fact that our hair was still wet, I'd guess that we were carried downstream by the river," Naoto surmised. "I've never heard of Inaba, but if what you're saying is true, we can reach the town if we follow the river upstream."

"Uh…I guess," Kanji replied. "How did you figure that out?"

"Oh!" Naoto exclaimed, slightly red. "I'm…practicing to be a detective, like my mother and father. The first thing they taught me was to pay attention to my surroundings. Since our hair was wet, I figured we must have been in the water."

"Oh. That makes sense," Kanji said. "That's really smart!"

"It's just the basics, really!" Naoto giggled, rubbing the back of her head. "My parents go after big cases, and use all these detective tools to solve them!"

"Wow…they're some great people, huh?"

"Mmhmm! I'm gonna be a detective myself one day and make them proud!" Naoto cheered, and then suddenly remembered something. "Oh! Enough talking! We should start following the river to see if we reach your hometown!"

The trek up the river's path proved to be a rather casual one, the water changing only in levels of depth, so the two children kept their distance. Naoto kept a hold on Kanji's hand as they walked, focusing on just how different it felt to hold a hand that didn't belong to an adult, not to mention she was still trying to get used to being naked around a boy. Because of this, the trek was a quiet one as well. Eventually, Naoto couldn't take the silence any longer.

"Can I ask you some questions, Kanji-kun?"

"Huh? What kind of questions?" Kanji inquired.

"Well, I want to see if there might be any clue as to how we got here," Naoto replied. "Father calls it an 'interrogation'."

"Oh. Uh…sure. Ask away."

"Wonderful!" Naoto cheered before clearing her throat. "Do you remember what you were doing before you woke up here?"

"Hmm…I remember going to bed," Kanji answered after a moment for recollection. "I was wearing a sleeping yukata. Just like normal."

"Same as me. So we weren't doing anything unusual…" Naoto mused before she continued. "Do you know anyone who would wish anything bad on your family?"

"What?!" The question threw Kanji for a loop. "Why would you ask that?"

"Usually, a child gets kidnapped when the kidnapper wants something from the child's parents," Naoto explained. "What do your folks do in Inaba? Do they run a business? Has there been anyone who would be angry with them?"

"My Ma runs a textile shop in town. She makes things like yukatas and kimonos for festivals and other stuff. Pa runs supplies, driving back and forth from the city," Kanji explained. "We've had a few customers who didn't like what my Ma made, but she was usually able to smooth things over. No one ever left the shop angry."

"What about money? Is your family rich?"

"Not really," he simply said. "Ma says we make enough to get by."

"So you probably weren't kidnapped," Naoto said. "And since our cases are alike, I don't believe I was kidnapped either. This is so strange. How could this have happened?"

"Hey, Naoto! Look!" Kanji shouted to get her attention and pointed ahead of them. "Clothes!"

On the ground ahead of them, lay a few articles of clothing. A large pair of what appeared to be swim trunks, a large black t-shirt, a blue hat, and a long strip of yellow cloth. Running over to them, Kanji went down to grab them, but was stopped by Naoto.

"Wait, Kanji-kun!" Naoto commanded. "We have to treat this like a crime scene. If we're not careful, we could lose a valuable clue!"

"Uh…right!" Kanji simply said, backing away. "So, how do we do this?"

"We look over every piece carefully. If there's anything unusual, it could be a clue to what happened to us."

"You think these clothes have something to do with us being here?" Kanji asked. "But they all look so big! I don't think these belong to any of us!"

"Still, we should look them over. If we can't get any information from them, then we can wear them. Now, let's see…" Naoto picked up the swim trunks. Looking all around the outside showed nothing she could use. She opened them up and looked inside. "This mesh lining on the inside definitely proves these are swim trunks. Other than that, there's nothing here that could be a clue. Here, Kanji-kun."

"Thanks!" Kanji said as he caught the trunks tossed to him and quickly slipped them on, only for them to fall back down. With no drawstring to tighten it, he'd have to hold them up himself. "Well, it's better than nothing!"

"Now, what about this?" Naoto walked over to the black shirt and picked it. Flipping it over revealed a skull and crossbones graphic across the chest.

"Whoa, cool!" Kanji exclaimed. "Whoever wore this must be really awesome to wear something like that!"

"I suppose," Naoto replied, even though the idea was lost on her. "I don't see anything that could tell me where it came from, though. Still, we should keep it with us. Take it."

"Why don't you wear it?" Kanji asked. "I got something for myself already. Wouldn't be fair for just you to be naked."

"Hmm…that's true. I guess I had just gotten used to not wearing anything…" Naoto said bashfully. She slipped the shirt on, with some help from Kanji, and looked over herself. It left her collarbone still exposed, but it covered her butt as it went down to her knees, which she felt was more important. "This is actually really comfy!"

"Yeah. It looks good on you!"

"Please, Kanji-kun. We're not doing this for fun. Next, let's look at this," Naoto picked up the yellow strip of cloth. Holding it from end to end showed that it was more narrow on one end than the other. "What could this be?"

"Hey, that's a necktie!" Kanji pointed to the cloth. "Ma makes those too! I remember when she made one for the detective in our town. That was red, though."

"Oh, I see! So this doesn't belong to Inaba's detective, and I don't see anything unusual about it," Naoto said. "Hold onto this, would you?"

"Sure! In fact, I got an idea! Hold the trunks up, would ya?" Kanji took the necktie while Naoto kept the trunks level with his waist (while taking care not to look inside the trunks). Wrapping the tie around the waist, he tied off the front with a bow, successfully keeping the trunks in place. "And there! Now they'll stay up!"

"That's very clever, Kanji-kun," Naoto said, impressed with his work. "And you know how to tie a bow, too!"

"Of course I do! Wouldn't be living in a textile shop and not know how!" Kanji boasted. "You mean you can't?"

"Ah! O-Of course I can!" Naoto snapped back, her face red. "But I know a lot of other kids don't know how, so I was surprised you did!"

"Okay…" Kanji replied, a little taken aback. "So far, it looks like everything is just…here for no reason."

"Everything has a reason, Kanji-kun. It's up to detectives to figure out that reason. And now we're left with this," Naoto picked up the hat. In her hand, it appeared to be too big for her to wear normally, just like the rest of the clothes. She flipped the hat over to look inside, specifically at the tag, but when she looked at it, something about it gave her a shock. "Wha…What is this?"

"What's what?" Kanji asked, walking up to Naoto.

"The tag on this hat…has my name on it!" Naoto shakily gave the hat to Kanji, the tag held between her two fingers. On the tag, written in hirigana with marker, was the name "Naoto Shirogane".

"So, this is yours?"

"No! I mean…maybe? I don't remember ever having a hat like this! What's more…" Naoto flipped over the hat and put it on her head, but quickly had to adjust it from slipping off. "It's too big! So why does it have my name on it?!"

"What if this is a trick by spirits?" Kanji suggested. "Ma always tells me that evil spirits go after naughty kids. Maybe we're being pranked."

"But I haven't been naughty at all! I've been a good girl!" Naoto shouted, before turning red and clearing her throat. "Besides, spirits aren't real."

"What?" Kanji stopped and turned to face Naoto. "But the people in town say they're everywhere! How can you say they're not real?"

"I've never seen them!" Naoto replied, crossing her arms. "Detectives only deal with facts. Real things they can see. And if I can't see spirits, that means they're not real, and they couldn't have done this!"

"Then how did we get here?" Kanji demanded to know. "If this isn't some spirit's trick, then how did we end up in this big forest with none of our clothes?!"

"I don't know! I'm trying to figure this out, but I just don't know!" Naoto's fists were balled up, and she held back a sniffle. "I'm scared, okay? I'm trying to be a big girl detective who's not afraid of anything, but I'm not. I just…I want to go home!"

Naoto held her hands to her face and sobbed quietly, taking in sharp inhales of breath. Suddenly, Kanji felt like the biggest jerk in the world. He made a girl cry, something his mother told him was one of the worst things you could do. Naoto put up such a brave front, Kanji didn't imagine that she'd act like this. Slowly, he approached Naoto and put his arms around her.

"Hey. It's okay. Please don't cry," he pleaded. "You want to know something? I'm scared too."

"You are?" Naoto sniffled. "You don't look scared…"

"I mean it. Look!" Kanji took Naoto's hand and placed it on his chest. Naoto gasped and blushed slightly. "It's beating pretty fast, right? Been going like that since I woke up here. I'm just as scared as you, see?"

"Then why…"

"Because Ma told me you gotta be brave, even when you're scared," Kanji said, a smile on his face. "When you told me you wanted to be a detective that solved mysteries, and I saw you going about clues and everything, I thought you were really cool!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I didn't feel so scared. You helped me, Naoto," Kanji told her. "But if you're scared, that means I gotta help you back and be brave for both of us. We'll make it back home! I know it!"

"Right! Thank you, Kanji-kun! That helps a lot!" Naoto said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I don't know how we got here, but that doesn't mean we can't figure it ouAAAAH!"

"What?! What's wrong?" Kanji quickly asked when Naoto dove her head into his chest in fear. He turned his head behind him and saw something floating down the river. It looked like an upside down umbrella, but it had no handle in the middle. Rather, it was just a blue dome floating downstream. "What the heck is that?"

"I don't know, but it looks creepy!" Naoto commented.

"Let's catch it!" Kanji declared, grabbed Naoto by the hand and took off into a run.

"Whoa! But why?!" Naoto exclaimed, trying to keep up while holding her hat to her head. "I thought we were gonna go upstream!"

"But it might be another clue!" Kanji answered. "The sooner we solve this mystery, the sooner we can find out how we got here! That's what detectives do, right?"

"Right!" Naoto laughed. "Let's catch that clue, partner."

"Partner…I like the sound of that!" Kanji said, encouraged at the idea.

* * *

**Update 10/20/16: Added in a part with Teddie, since I felt his involvement was a little lacking in the previous draft. After some discussion with other readers, I also changed Kanji and Naoto's introduction.**


	9. New and Familiar Faces Part 3

**Sorry for taking so long on this, you guys! I've been making a lot of edits to the previous chapters because I am a fickle writer who can't be satisfied with his first draft. I hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: New and Familiar Faces Part 3**

Water. There was suddenly water all around her. The little girl's compulsion for air took over quickly as she started to flail her arms in an attempt to swim to the surface. She didn't know how she came to suddenly wake up submerged in water. It didn't matter at that moment. Right now, all that mattered was not drowning.

When she finally broke the surface, she continued to move in the closest direction out of the water. Grabbing on to a smooth rock to her left, she used it to hoist herself against the current, eventually climbing out of the water and crawling on the ground. She looked around herself to see where she was, but nothing looked familiar.

"Huh? This isn't the riverbank..." she uttered to herself. The Samegawa riverbank never got this intense, not even during the rainy season. There was no road going across the way. Only trees and bushes and other plants as far as she could see. Was she out of Inaba? When did this happen? Before she could think about where she was, a scream rang out from behind her.

"HELP!"

Whipping her head around at the sound of the scream, she found another child. A girl barely able to keep her head above the water before sinking again. The black hair of the poor girl was familiar to the other. She got up quickly, her adrenaline kicking in.

"Yukiko!" The girl looked around her for something she could use to pull her friend out of the water. Finding a long stick, she picked it up and started running downstream. She managed to get to a piece of land close enough to where she would be able to hold the stick out.

"Grab on!"

Thankfully, Yukiko was coherent enough to hear her friend and started to reach for the stick. Grabbing onto it firmly, she nearly dragged her friend back into the water. Her friend, however, was able to hold her ground, and began to pull Yukiko out of the river. Once she was close enough, she grabbed Yukiko by the wrist and got her body completely out of the water's reach before collapsing backwards and falling on her back while Yukiko fell on her front. That hurt a bit, but at least they were both safe.

"Thank you, Chie-chan," Yukiko said after finally catching her breath. "You saved me."

"That's what a friend does, Yuki-chan!" Chie panted out. "But, man! I never knew the Samegawa could get so crazy!"

"I know! We must be far away from Inaba," Yukiko surmised. "I don't recognize this forest, do you?"

"Not at all!" Chie got to her feet and looked around, searching for any recognizable landmarks. "When did we fall in the river, anyway?"

"Ah! Chie-chan!" Yukiko cried, getting Chie's attention. "Y-Your clothes! Where are your clothes?!"

"Huh? Whoa! I'm butt naked!" Chie looked down and jumped in shock. She turned to Yukiko, and her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. "And so are you, Yuki-chan!"

"Ahh!" Yukiko exclaimed, looking at herself with a bright red face before curling into a ball with her arms wrapped around her shoulders. "What's going on? Why are we naked, Chie-chan?"

"Did we take our clothes off before playing in the river?" Chie guessed. "But I would remember doing that, so that can't be it. Maybe we were pushed in!"

"That has to be it!" Yukiko exclaimed. "I hardly ever go near the river. Mom always warned that the waters get faster the further it goes downstream."

"No kidding! Even our socks and undies came off!" Chie commented, wiggling her toes. "That probably means they're down the river, huh?"

"Then they must be long gone by now…" Yukiko lamented, hanging her head in despair. "Oh, Mom's gonna be so mad at me…"

"Hey, cheer up, Yuki-chan!" Chie walked up to Yukiko and bent down to pat her on the head. "It's just me and you here, so you don't have to feel shy!"

"But…we're out in the open!" Yukiko whimpered, looking behind herself as though someone may have been watching. "I've never been naked outdoors before, Chie-chan!"

"It's not all that different. In fact, it feels great!" Chie stood up and grabbed Yukiko's arms, lifting her up to her feet. "Just feel that air, Yuki-chan!"

"Brr…it's chilly…" Yukiko whimpered. "Like I just stepped out of a hot bath! Even my butt's cold!"

"Ha ha! You said butt!" Chie snorted and collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Yukiko looked at her friend, offering that same toothy smile she did when Yukiko tried to run away with a puppy she found. It was something she knew she could rely on. Even when they're both naked and seemingly lost, Chie kept that smile going, and that was enough to give Yukiko strength. Soon, Chie's laughter infected her, causing Yukiko to start laughing as well.

"Okay, Chie-chan. You win. I'll try not to be scared or shy," Yukiko nodded. "But what can we do?"

"Well, we came down the river, so Inaba is probably upstream," Chie theorized, pointing in the opposite direction the river was flowing. "If we keep going that way wherever the water goes, we'll hit the riverbed in no time!"

"But what about our clothes?" Yukiko asked. "If we lost them downstream, I want to look for them first. I don't want to go back to town naked. Everyone will laugh at me."

"Then I'd kick them into space!" Chie replied, kicking the air in front of her. This didn't seem to give her friend much confidence, as the look of worry remained on her face. "But if you want to find our clothes first, that's fine too! If we can find them before sundown, we can be back in Inaba in time for dinner!"

"Thank you, Chie-chan," Yukiko said, finally smiling. "If we find our clothes at the beach, there's a road there we can walk that will take us back to town!"

"Heheh! That's it! There's the smart Yuki-chan I know!" Chie cheered, making Yukiko's smile bigger. "Clothes first, then home! Let's go!"

Going hand in hand, the two girls walked along the river's path, remaining ever mindful not to get too close. As they went along, they took note that the trees and the bushes seemed to go on endlessly the deeper they looked into the forest they were in. The going theory was that they were in a part of the river that wasn't in the main path. They had no knowledge of the river's path beyond the town, so it made sense to them that perhaps the river split at some point and went into some unpopulated region.

As they got further down, the river became calmer and smaller, until it was nothing more than a stream that came up to the girls' knees. This gave them some hope that they were getting close to somewhere with signs of civilization, like a camping ground or a wildlife park in another town. Finally, Chie spotted something that brought a smile to her face.

"Yuki-chan! Look!" Chie ran up to two items of clothing on the ground near the stream, a large green tank top, and a long white skirt. "Clothes!"

"Those aren't our clothes, Chie-chan," Yukiko commented, looking at the articles and how big they were. "These look like clothes for grown-ups. What if they lost them?"

"But we haven't seen anybody since we got here," Chie pointed out. "These were probably left behind by some camper that forgot about them."

"You think so?"

"Totally! Besides, even if somebody's looking for these, we need them more than they do!" Chie picked up the tank top and wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. It's still soaking wet."

"Why don't we hang them to dry, then?" Yukiko picked up the skirt and shook off the excess water.

"Good idea. I could use a rest, anyway." Chie walked over to a tree with a low hanging branch and laid the top over it, followed by the skirt Yukiko picked up. After making sure the clothes were spread out to dry, the two girls sat at the base of the tree.

While this forest looked typical for an ordinary forest, a few things seemed off once they were able to stop and take notice of it. For one, there was barely any noise of animals, though the forest should be full of them. There wasn't even any wind blowing through the trees. The only sound was that of the stream. Before the thought of being completely lost could overtake them, Chie decided to change the subject.

"Do you really think we were pushed in?" she asked. "I'd remember if something like that happen. Unless I got my head knocked in the water and forgot about it…"

"Then that would have happened to me too," Yukiko added. "I'm starting to think we weren't shoved in.

"Hmm...you got a point. I didn't think about that," Chie replied. "Well, what do you think?"

"Aren't there stories of fox spirits that lure people away to these shacks and leave them without their clothes or any of their stuff?" Yukiko theorized. "Maybe that's what happened to us."

"Really? Man, what did we do to deserve that? A couple of little kids like us?" Chie questioned. "I know the gods can be mean sometimes, but that's outright cruel!"

"It is...I hope we can get home soon," Yukiko sighed, curling up and burying her head into her knees. "My mother must be worried that I ran away again."

"Don't sweat it, Yuki-chan!" Chie patted her friend on the back. "After these things dry, we'll put them on and keep heading down until we hit the ocean. Going by the road sounds better than following the river upstream, anyway."

"Right. We'll have to get there before it gets dark, though," Yukiko stated as she looked to the garments hanging. "Do you think they're dry enough to wear?"

"Let's see..." Chie stood up and grabbed the skirt from the branch. "It's cold, but at least most of the water's dried off. Here." She handed Yukiko the skirt.

"I don't think I can wear this..." Yukiko held the skirt to her waist, only to discover it would drag on the floor if she wore it.

"You're right," Chie thought for a few seconds, then had an idea. "Let's try this!" She unzipped the skirt and let Yukiko step into it. Chie then lifted the skirt up, past Yukiko's waist, until it was just under her armpits. The skirt was just big enough to fit around her chest and zip up perfectly. "Ta-dah!"

"Oh! That's much better!" Yukiko looked down and saw that like this, everything was covered as the skirt came down to the middle of her thighs, just enough.

"Awesome! Let's see if it works for me!" Chie took the top off the branch and slipped it on. The straps hung off her shoulders a little loosely, but at least the hem came down to her thighs like Yukiko's skirt, covering everything important.

"It looks like it might slip off if you're not careful, Chie-chan," Yukiko pointed out. "Are you sure you don't want to trade?"

"Nah, it's fine. If it slips, I'll just put it back on, no big deal," Chie shrugged off her friend's concern. After taking Yukiko's hand again, the two continued their journey down the river.

The girls' concerns about where the river lead changed as they continued. The water was now only coming up to their ankles, and prospects were not looking good. Without any other recourse, however, they kept walking along it.

"I'm starting to think this doesn't lead to the ocean..." Chie said, watching the stream.

"But where else can we go, Chie-chan? This has to lead somewhere..."

"I know, but-" Chie was suddenly cut off when she noticed something float by next to them. Some kind of…umbrella? "What's that?"

"Heeyyy!" the girls heard from behind them. "Grab that thing before it gets away!"

Instinctively, Chie ran over to the strange object, which had slowed down from coming into contact with some rocks, and pulled it away from the water. Just as she got it out, two children ran up to them, panting quite a bit from the running. One was a blue-haired girl wearing nothing but a large black t-shirt with a skull on it and a hat that was too big for her head. The other was a boy with short black hair wearing a pair of large swim trunks being held up by a yellow cloth.

"Thank you so much," the girl said in between breaths. "We've been chasing that thing for a while."

"Uh…no problem," Chie said. "What is this, anyway?"

"We don't know!" the boy replied. "We think it might be a clue to how we got here."

"How we got here?" Chie repeated. "Then that means you two are lost like us, right?"

"That's right!" the girl nodded and cleared her throat. "I am Naoto Shirogane, and this is my partner, Kanji Tatsumi."

"I'm Chie Satonaka, and this here's my best friend, Yukiko Amagi!" Chie responded.

"Wait. Amagi? Like the Amagi Inn?" the boy named Kanji said, approaching Yukiko.

"Yes. Did you say your name was Tatsumi?" Yukiko asked, before clapping her hands as she realized something. "Oh! You must be the son of the sweet old lady who runs the textile shop!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Kanji nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what we'd like to know!" Chie said, fists at her hips.

"So, your case is the same?" Naoto asked. "You just woke up here and you don't remember how?"

"Yeah, we just suddenly found ourselves in the river," Yukiko explained. "After Chie-chan pulled me out, we realized we didn't have clothes on. Thankfully, we found these to wear. Don't know who they belong to, though…"

"Hmm…more large clothes…" Naoto said, looking closely at Chie's top and Yukiko's dress. "We washed up naked ourselves, but found these clothes upstream. What was strange was that this hat has my name on the tag."

"Weird…" Chie said as she and Yukiko looked at the hat. "What does it all mean?"

"I don't know, but things seem to be connected in some way," Naoto replied pensively. "From what I can tell, you two and Kanji-kun come from the same town."

"Sounds like you're on to something, Naoto," Kanji said.

"Hmm…it couldn't happen, but…"

"What's all the racket?" a different voice said sleepily. From behind some nearby bushes, a naked girl with wavy auburn hair slowly got up from the ground. Upon seeing the others, she smiled and gasped. "Yu-kun, Yosuke-kun! Look!"

The little girl bent down and nudged two others that were sleeping. Slowly, two boys got up, both of them as naked as the girl. One had light brown hair, the other had gray hair in a messy bowl cut. After rubbing their eyes, they looked to the small group the girl pointed to and froze like deer in the headlights. Yukiko held her hands to her mouth in surprise, while Naoto gawked at the boys' bodies.

"I'm Rise Kujikawa, six years old!" the girl introduced herself. "That's Yosuke Hanamura, and Yu Narukami! Look, guys! More kids! We're not alone here! Isn't that great?"

"Clothes! Where did we put the clothes?!" the boy named Yosuke shouted once he snapped out of his trance. He quickly looked behind him and found their clothes right where they left him. Frantically, he threw the white shirt to Yu before putting on his t-shirt.

"Who are all of you?" the gray haired boy asked the rest of the group as he put on his shirt. He took quick notice of everyone else's clothes. "Did you all get here like we did?"

"If you mean wet and naked, then yeah," Chie answered.

"Yu-kun…can you help me with this?" Rise asked, handing him her orange dress. On the top were two straps that looked like they needed to be tied together.

"Sure, Rise-chan," Yu replied as he bunched up the dress and let Rise step into it. Moving aside her hair, he tied the straps together at her neck. The opening at the back of the dress exposed her back, but her hair covered most of that. The skirt covered her bottom and traveled down to her ankles, so everything was fine. "How's that?"

"Yay! Thank you, Yu-kun!" Rise cheered.

"Uh…Yu-kun, I have a question," Naoto said, approaching the boy. "Is anyone in your group from the town of Inaba?"

"Inaba?! That's where my grandma lives!" Rise piped up. "Why do you ask?"

"Hmm…that's more connections to Inaba," Naoto stated. "So far, about half of us are from there or have family there. There's something about that town. There's gotta be!"

"What about this thing you had me fish out?" Chie asked, finally bringing attention to the object that allowed for two of the groups to meet. "What is it, anyway?"

Carefully, Chie flipped the dome like object curved side up, revealing…a cartoonish bear face. It was blue and white with humungous eyes, but the ears up top indicated a bear. Everyone in the group gathered around, wearing various expressions about the object.

"It looks creepy," Yosuke said, wrinkling his face.

"I think it looks cute…" Yukiko commented.

"Does it look familiar to anyone?" Naoto asked the group, only to be met with heads shaking. "Darn, a false lead. I thought such a strange object would be a major clue, or even the key to this mystery, but it looks like this is just a dead-!"

Suddenly, a sound came from within the forest. Distant and quiet at first, only to grow louder. And closer. The closer it got, the clearer it became. It sounded like a series of short wails.

"What was that?" Chie asked, frantically looking around.

"It's a spirit! I knew it!" Kanji shouted.

From one end of the river, something lurched towards the children. It seemed to be a body without a head, red and white with blue mittens for hands, held in front of it like a zombie. There was no blood where the head should have been, just a very wide hole with a zipper lining around the top. The short moans and wails were coming from inside.

"It's getting closer!" Yukiko exclaimed. "What do we do?!"

"Stay close, everybody!" Yu instructed. "We just have to prove we're not afraid of it!"

Just then, with another wail, the walking "spirit" fell over. The body seemed to deflate, revealing it to be a kind of…costume? From inside, a boy somewhere around their age with very blonde hair crawled out of it. The costume was much too big for him, and why he wasn't wearing any other clothes was up for anyone to guess. After coughing a bit, he looked at the group with bright blue eyes and gasped.

"Oh no! You guys shrunk, too!" The boy stood up without much care for his state of dress, causing the girls to stare at him. He tilted his head, wondering what they were staring at, and looked down. "What's with the faces? You've seen me naked before!"

"What are you talking about?" Kanji asked. "Who the heck are you?"

"Is that you, Kanji-kun?" The boy looked at Kanji and noticed the bear head. "Hey, you found my head!"

"How do you know my name?" Kanji backed away from the boy.

"Are you serious? I know I look smaller, but I'm still Teddie!" The boy who called himself Teddie said. "But I guess we all shrunk, huh?"

"What do you mean, shrunk?" Yosuke asked.

"Quit fooling around, Yosuke!" Teddie stomped his foot. "Did you hit your head or something? Did all of you hit your heads?"

"Slow down, Teddie-kun," Yu said, trying to calm him down. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't tell me you guys forgot!" Teddie whined. "We were in those big tunnels, and the door closed behind us, and then all that water hit us!"

"I don't remember anything like that," Yukiko said, trying not to look at Teddie. "All I remember was going to bed last night and waking up here." Agreements among the group confirmed everyone else had this happen to them as well.

"Come on, you guys!" Teddie jumped. "If none of you can remember why we're here, then who's gonna save Nanako-chan?!"

Nanako?

A sudden jolt of pain pierced through the mind of each of the children. Immediately, a flurry of memories came through everyone's minds. Meeting for the first time, finding the world inside the television, solving a murder case. The last thing that came to them was the knowledge that Nanako and other children had disappeared from their homes.

Nanako...that was the name of Yu's cousin. She called him, "Big bro." Everyone loved her. That's why they went back into the television. And then...

"Nanako..." Yu uttered out loud.

"Guys?" Teddie blinked.

"I remember!" Yu shouted.

Everyone nodded in response to his statement. They then got a good look at each other. A chorus of screams penetrated the forest at that moment.

* * *

**Looks like the gang's back together! So, in the next chapter, we can finally get the ball rolling again! Be sure to leave a comment, tell me what you think!**

**Update 10/20/16: Mostly changed the middle and the end of the chapter to fit events from the previous chapter's changes.**


	10. Reunion

**I think this is my longest chapter yet! There was so much I wanted to get in, and I'm happy I managed to get it in a format I liked. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Reunion**

"What happened to us?!"

"We shrunk!"

"What are we wearing?!"

"What's with my voice?!"

Panic had swept over the young children that made up the former Investigation Team. Suddenly finding themselves in smaller bodies, one could hardly blame them for panicking. Voices overlapped each other as the group fell into utter disarray. Yosuke's voice finally managed to get in between everyone else's words, bringing their attention to him.

"Man, I knew this was a trap!" he cried. "We walked right into it, and look what happened!"

"To be fair, Yosuke-senpai, all of us agreed it was a trap. We just didn't have time to figure out an alternate plan," Naoto explained. "Even so, I don't think any of us could have predicted this."

"No kidding!" Chie exclaimed. "Washed out, stripped half-naked, and turned into little kids? If whoever did this is trying to make us die of embarrassment, they're on the right track!"

"Just how old are we, anyway?" Yukiko asked, looking at herself.

"If I had to guess," Naoto said, "I'd say we're around Nanako-chan's age. Give or take a year."

"What makes you say that?" Rise inquired.

"Look at me and Kanji-kun," Naoto said, taking off her hat. "Kanji-kun's hair is back to its natural color, something that's impossible with water alone, and my hair is the length it was when I was a child. I didn't start wearing it short until just a couple years ago. It seems as though this was more than just our bodies being shrunk. It's almost as if we were moved back in time."

"Speaking of time, does anybody remember what happened between us getting that trap sprung on us and winding up here altogether?" Yosuke asked the group. "I feel like there's a bit missing here."

"I kind of remember something," Chie answered, scratching her head. "I remember pulling myself out of the water and saving Yuki-chan from getting washed away, but…the way I remember it, it's almost like…"

"Like it happened a long time ago!" Rise finished. "I remember seeing a boy nearly drown trying to get a dress for me because I didn't have any clothes myself. That boy was Yu-kun!"

"But you two had never met until you and Senpai came to Inaba," Naoto commented. "It seems we've gained these 'childhood' memories of meeting in this forest after getting swept up in this river. So not only did our bodies regress, but our minds regressed briefly as well. It wasn't until we heard mention of Nanako-chan, who wasn't born yet, that our minds were brought back. On that note…"

"What?" Teddie asked when he noticed Naoto looking at him.

"How is it that Teddie's body shrunk, but his mind stayed intact?" Naoto asked. "When Teddie gained a human form, it appeared to be as old as all of us. He was never a child."

"If anything, he still is one," Yosuke quipped.

"Maybe whatever or whoever did this to all of us thought that Teddie was a human," Yukiko theorized. "But only his body is human, and this thing that happened only affects humans."

"Perhaps. It would also explain why his memories didn't regress either," Naoto guessed. "Unlike all of us, there were no memories to go back to."

"Yeah. I don't really remember my time as a shadow," Teddie said. "It was probably really boring, though."

"I guess we owe you one, Teddie," Rise giggled. "If you didn't retain your memories, we never would've remembered what we came here for."

"Huh! Guess that makes me the Hero of the Hour!" Teddie said, hands triumphantly at his hips. "Hold your applause, ladies!"

"You don't look like much of a hero standing there buck naked…" Yosuke said.

"Oh! Right!" Teddie climbed clumsily into his large suit and pulled it up to his shoulders, but it still sagged horribly. "Kanji, may I ask that you please give me my head?"

"Only you can say that with a straight face, Teddie," Kanji replied as he lifted the mascot head off the ground.

"By the way, Kanji-kun, I've been meaning to ask," Yosuke said. "Am I crazy, or are those the swim trunks you wore for the class camping trip last year?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, they are!" Kanji answered, shyly rubbing the back of his head. "It was laundry day at home, and I ran out of underwear, so I just wore these."

As they talked, Teddie held the rim of the costume steady from the inside while Kanji carefully placed the mascot head on top. Once it was zipped shut, a rush of mist came out from inside the costume, surprising everyone. They were only blinded for a few seconds, however, as it cleared just as fast as it had come. When it cleared, they saw that Teddie's costume no longer sagged, because it had shrunk to fit his new body!

"No way..." Chie gasped. "Since when could you do that?!"

"I'm not sure," Teddie replied looking at himself, the mascot head doing the talking. "I didn't know I could do that either!"

"Why didn't it shrink before?" Kanji asked.

"Hmm...well, when we got hit by that rush of water earlier," Teddie recalled, "I opened my mouth and my body took on a lot of that water. Maybe my human body got changed when that happened, but my bear body didn't because it was full of water."

"So now that your costume's your main body, it got smaller along with you," Naoto explained. "Just when I thought I had you figured out..."

"Now, if all of us could get clothes that fit, we'd be set," Yosuke sighed, fidgeting nervously. "I never thought I'd miss wearing underwear…"

"I just hope there's a way to change back when this is done!" Rise added, pulling the front of her dress and looking down. "I put in a lot of work to get the body I had! I don't want to go around all flat chested anymore than I need to! What's Yu-kun gonna hold onto, after all?"

"Rise…" Yu sighed. "Let's get our priorities straight, everyone. Now that we have our memories back, we can continue with our mission! We need to find where Nanako and the other kids are being kept and bust them out!"

"I don't mean to be a downer, partner," Yosuke chimed in. "But our mission just got a whole lot harder. We have no weapons, we're a bunch of little kids with barely any clothes, and we're not even sure which direction to go in!"

"Not only that! How are we supposed to fight if we run into any shadows?" Kanji brought up another point. "If we're just tykes, that means we're too young to use our personas, isn't it?"

"That's a possibility," Naoto answered. "However, since we've managed to regain our memories, there is a chance that we can still use them."

"You think so, Naoto-kun?" Chie asked.

"Personas have everything to do with our psyche," Naoto explained. "At least, that's what the research I found seemed to suggest. What our bodies look like is inconsequential. We might not have been able to use our personas when our minds were still regressed, but it should work now that we have this amount of awareness."

"Well, no time like the present!" Yosuke exclaimed. "Who wants to try first?"

"I'll do it," Rise stepped forward. "If I can summon my persona, I'll be able to track down the children's life signs and scout out a path for us."

"Hey, you're right!" Kanji said with a smile. "Then we wouldn't have to follow this stupid stream anymore!"

"Exactly," Rise winked. "Now, give me a second." She closed her eyes and focused on the power deep within her.

"PERSONA!"

Immediately, her body was surrounded in blue light as her persona came into view. Everyone's smiles, however, soon turned into looks of confusion and concern as they looked on at it.

"Hey...Rise-chan..." Yosuke started.

"What's the matter?" Rise looked up at her persona and saw what everyone twisted their faces about. "What the...why is it Himiko again?!" Her persona lacked the complexity it had as Kanzeon and returned to the state it was when she first received it.

"It seems the shock of regression has affected our personas as well," Naoto surmised. "Given the circumstances, we should consider ourselves lucky that we're able to summon them at all."

"At least we have a way to defend ourselves," Yukiko said, "but without any weapons, that means we can only fight with our personas."

"That's right, which means we should be careful and choose our battles wisely to conserve energy," Naoto said. "Unless any shadows are directly blocking our path, running away is an option we should consider."

"Got it," Yu nodded. "Rise, you got a path for us?"

"Just a second," Rise said as she controlled her persona to kneel down slightly so that the headset could fit on her. A couple minutes passed in anxious silence as she and her persona looked. After what seemed like an eternity, Rise pointed in a direction that led away from the stream. "That way."

"So we just go straight from there, huh?" Yosuke said. "I can't wait to get out of this place. If I ever have to trudge through a forest again, it'll be too soon."

"Alright, gang!" Teddie shouted. "Forward march!"

Leaving in the direction Rise guided them to, the group stayed close to one another, so as to not get separated again. Yu lead the way, as usual, holding tightly onto Rise's hand. At some point, a small giggle escaped her mouth.

"What is it?" Yu asked, taking notice.

"I was thinking about how much we look like childhood sweethearts right now," Rise replied, unable to take the smile off her face. "Just imagining how it would be if we really did meet when we were this young."

"To be honest, I wish I had met all of you when I was young," Yu said. "I might have been a better person sooner."

"Don't say it like we were the only ones who helped, Yu," she said as she wagged her finger at him. "You got all of our asses out of the fire. That's not something you should ignore."

"Thanks," he said, bringing up his smile.

Near the end of the group, Naoto and Kanji brought up the rear, being mindful of their surroundings. At least, Kanji was paying attention. Naoto appeared to be in deep thought, giving just enough attention to keep up with the group. Kanji took notice of this.

"What's up? Still trying to figure this case out?" he asked.

"Actually," Naoto replied after jumping a bit and blushing, "I was wondering about something..."

"Yeah?"

"Being this young, and feeling my hair being this long again..." Naoto said as she brushed the back of her head, "I thought about how things might have been if I met all of you sooner. Would you have convinced me to keep trying to move forward in my job as a girl? Or would I still have been convinced that the only way to get taken seriously was to present myself as a man?"

"I don't know," Kanji simply answered. "You think I still would have been trying to be this macho punk because I was trying to hide my hobbies from everybody? Or would I be completely different? It's really hard to tell..."

"I know," she agreed. "The people you meet and who influence you can really change everything depending on when you met them."

Her eyes drew downward. "No matter how much we might want it, however, we can't change the past. We may have become children again, but we still have the minds of the lives we already lived. If I was given the chance to start over, even knowing that that might mean I'd never meet any of you...I don't know what I'd do..."

"Naoto..."

"Well, I know one thing for sure! You all look so adorable!" Teddie piped up, catching everyone's attention. "And the big baggy clothes just adds to it!"

"Don't get used to it, buddy. We only have these so we're not walking around-" Chie stopped mid-sentence and gasped. "That's right! I forgot about that!"

"What's the matter, Chie?" Yu asked.

"Well...when the kids were snatched, their clothes got left behind," she said. "Which means, when we find them, they're going to be naked. What are we supposed to do when we free them, take them to the usual exit at Junes?"

"Crap, you're right!" Yosuke gasped. "A bunch of naked kids suddenly appearing at a department store in a small country town? Kids that had been reported missing? I'll be lucky if all my dad gets for that is jail time!"

"Not to mention that there are kids from other towns and cities that had gone missing in the same fashion," Naoto added. "If they suddenly appear in Inaba, that'll just raise more questions. I'm really starting to wish we had more time to think of a plan."

"For now, why don't we just take this one step at a time?" Yu suggested. "We need to be focused if we want to save those kids in the first place."

"Hey, everyone!" Rise shouted from some distance away. She was peering over a bush. "Take a look at this!"

The team rushed over to Rise, who stood near a hill edge lined with bushes. Over them, they saw a lot more forest, and beyond it a large mountain in the distance. They weren't sure what was past that mountain, but one thing was clear.

"Is that where we're going?" Yu asked Rise.

"That's where the reading's coming from," she replied. "If I needed to stash away hundreds of kidnapped children, that certainly looks like where I'd put them."

"An ominous looking mountain at the edge of a dense forest," Yosuke commented. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were starring in some children's movie! If the bad guy turns out to be some imposing ham-tastic wind bag in a cape, I'm out of here!"

"I was half-expecting a castle, to be honest," Yukiko joked. "Then again, I just have a weakness for castles."

"Don't need to tell us that, Yuki-chan. We went through one to save you, remember?" Chie said.

"This is one of the most important jobs we've been on as a team," Kanji said, "but the setting is so peaceful and quiet, you just don't feel it. It's kind of disappointing, really."

"Sorry this doesn't fit your aesthetic, Kanji-kun," Naoto said with an annoyed grouse. "Considering our circumstances, however, it would be good if things stayed quiet. The less obstacles we face on our way to Nanako-chan, the sooner we can rescue her. Right, Senpai?...Senpai?"

Naoto turned to face Yu, but only found empty air between Rise and Yosuke. Hearing a peculiar sound, she looked down to find Yu running down the hill that was beyond the bushes. He was running so fast, he wound up tripping over his own feet, rolling into a tumble down the hill.

"Yu!" Rise shouted and ran after him.

"Rise, wait!" Yosuke then began to run after Rise. Soon, everyone was following the other down the hill.

Teddie lost his balance first and started rolling on his side. Chie held Yukiko's hand as they stepped carefully. Yosuke tried to control his speed, but ended up tripping when he got to the bottom and landed on his face. Kanji held on to his trunks as he ran down the hill with Naoto closely behind. They all came to Yu, on his back on the ground, once they managed to reach the bottom.

3-[;

"You okay, partner?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm fine," Yu replied, quickly getting back to his feet and pushing everyone aside. Without even checking himself for injury, he started walking. "Come on! We've wasted enough time."

"Senpai!" Naoto shouted as she ran in front of Yu. "I understand you're concerned, but we can't go rushing off with blinders like this!"

"But Nanako-"

"I know what's at stake! Nanako-chan isn't just your family! She matters to all of us too!" she exclaimed, starring down her leader in the face. "This isn't your battle alone!"

"She's right, partner," Yosuke said, catching up. "We rushed in once already, and we almost wound up wandering this place forever. We were extremely lucky we got our memories back, so let's try not to waste this second chance by running in head first, okay?"

"You're not the only one who feels this, Yu-kun," Chie said. "You were away from Inaba when it happened, but all of us were in town, and she got taken right from under our noses! We all owe the creep responsible a pounding!"

"We all want to see her safe as soon as possible," Yukiko commented, "but if we slip up again and have no chance to recover, then there will be no one left to rescue Nanako-chan."

"You might feel solely responsible, but please…don't take on this burden all on your own," Rise told him, squeezing his hand. "We're not just a team. We're friends first. Well…most of us, anyway."

"Any problem you have is a problem we'll help with," Kanji said, crossing his arms. "All for one, and one for all, right?"

"With all of us like this, it's more important that we stick together! Watch each other's backs!" Teddie added. "We're all behind you, Sensei! Just don't forget we're here!"

"You're right. You all are," Yu finally replied, looking all of his friends. "I'm sorry, you guys. I guess I just got a little scared."

"I'd be lying if I said that none of us were, Senpai," Naoto said. "We never thought this would ever happen to us, or that the stakes would ever be this high. It's natural to be a little scared. But we can't let that take control of us. Right now, we need to have courage."

"Right!" Yu nodded. "Let's go save Nanako, together!"

After cheers of reinforcement, the group started their trek again towards the mountain. None of them were sure of what they'd find, but as a group, they would persevere through it. As they walked, Kanji noticed that Naoto was once again in deep thought.

"You okay, Naoto?" Kanji asked.

"While I'm glad that we're no longer going in wildly, something's still bothering me," Naoto said. "We've come across many powerful characters before, but this one was not only able to kidnap several children straight out of their clothes, but reduce us to children as well when we tried to intervene. Who could possibly have power like that?"

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**Update 10/20/16: Changed events some to match the previous chapter's changes. Also took out the villain's part because I felt it was a little silly. Changed my mind and didn't feel like introducing them just yet.**


	11. The Great Starship

Holy crap, was that a long hiatus! I am so sorry, everyone, for keeping you all in suspense! Thank you to everyone who still left reviews wanting to see more! And more you shall get! Now that I've gotten the previous chapters in a way I like and am satisfied with, (for real this time) I can focus on actually continuing the story! Enjoy!

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While the cave the children trekked through didn't appear to have many dangers, the dark certainly made them extra cautious. As their eyes adjusted to the absence of light, the rocky walls and stalactite laden ceiling appeared, making the cave slightly more foreboding. Nanako and Mamoru looked around as they walked, searching for any sign of a change in direction. Mai, in the meantime…

"And the cities, they're huge! Big buildings made of glass that almost touch the sky with how tall they are!"

"As tall as mountains, piro?" Piro asked, hanging on to every word that came out of Mai's mouth.

"Would you two keep it down?" Mamoru asked, turning his head towards Mai and Piro, who were bringing up the rear. "What if something snuck up on us, and we couldn't hear them because you were too busy yammering?"

"It's fine, Mamoru-kun. Her talking is actually helping," Nanako said. "We know where she is if we can hear in this dark place?"

"Speaking of which, how much further do we need to go?" Mamoru asked Piro. "Feels like we've been walking through here for hours!"

"I'm not too sure, piro," Piro said. "I've never actually been through these caves…"

"WHAT?!" Mamoru cried, stopping in his tracks. "You said we could get to the top from here!"

"It was just a guess, piro. I know there's another cave higher up on the mountain, so I thought the one down here led to the one up there," they explained.

"But you never bothered to look through the caves yourself."

"No way, piro! It was way too dark and scary to go through by myself!" Piro argued.

"So we might not even be going in the right direction! This is just great. We're gonna get lost here because our guide is afraid of the dark," Mamoru sighed.

"Hey, being afraid of the dark is a big deal," Mai said. "I only stopped being scared last year. It's all about letting your eyes adjust to the darkness. That's what Na-chan taught me. Right, Na-chan?"

"Mmhmm!" Nanako nodded. "Mamoru-kun's got a point, though. I can't tell how much further this cave goes on. We couldn't even see how big the mountain was. We could be here for days!"

"I don't want to starve to death before I get out of this place!" Mamoru lamented. He blinked when he realized something. "But hey, have you girls noticed something?"

"What is it, Momo-kun?" Mai asked.

"Have either of you felt hungry or thirsty since we woke up here?" he asked them. When the girls thought about it, they too blinked in surprise.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't," Nanako answered. "But I ate before I started watching TV, so that might be the reason…"

"I didn't! My sister was making lunch when I was watching TV and got kidnapped," Mai added. "But I don't feel hungry at all…"

"Yeah. I haven't even felt like I needed to use the bathroom!" Mamoru said. "If I was wearing pants when those monsters attacked us, I know I would've wet them!"

"Gross. You're right, but still gross," Mai cringed. "Say, Piro, what is there to eat when you get hungry? Are there any fruits in this forest?"

"What do you mean by 'hungry', piro?" they asked, shocking the children. "What's a fruit?"

"You know…like when your stomach growls, and you need food," Mai tried explaining. "Are you saying you don't get hungry? Or thirsty?"

"I don't know what that feels like, so I guess not, piro," they simply said, tilting their head from one side to the other.

"There's a lot you don't know, isn't there?" Mamoru asked. "What kind of a guide are you?"

"Hey! I didn't ask you to come here, piro!" Piro shouted, flying in Mamoru's face. "All I knew was just the forest and this mountain! It's only because Nanako was so nice that I didn't try to toss you all out as soon as you got here, piro!"

"You rude litte…"

"Stop it, both of you!" Nanako shouted at Mamoru and Piro, shutting up the both of them. "I know you're scared, Mamoru-kun, but that's no reason to start yelling at Piro! Apologize to them right now!"

"Why should I?!" Mamoru snapped back. "They're the ones who told us to come through here without even exploring it themselves!"

"It was better than nothing, Momo-kun!" Mai intervened. "At the very least, we can figure out what's on the other side of this cave. And if we run into any trouble, we got our personas, so what's the problem?"

"Mai's right, Mamoru-kun! We have clothes, a way to fight back any monsters, and a direction to go in! We're better off than how we started!" Nanako said. "We can wait until we get hungry to solve that problem, but right now, it's not. What's more important is getting through this cave!"

"Grr…fine. I'm sorry, Piro," Mamoru said begrudgingly.

"Hmph! Serves you right, piro!" Piro huffed. "Why would I lead you wrong? I think of you as my friends, piro!"

"Piro may not know much," Nanako said, "but they haven't done anything that wouldn't make us trust them."

"Yet," Mamoru quipped.

"Like. I. Said. What's important is that we get through here and find a way home!"

"Speaking of which, look!" Mai pointed past the group. In the distance, the children found a stray point of light. "Could that be the exit?"

"I haven't noticed us getting any higher. That probably means that leads out the other side of the mountain," Mamoru commented.

"We'll figure it out when we get there! It's better than standing around! Come on!" Nanako waved the others in her direction, and they quickly towards the light in the distance.

As they expected, the light got bigger the closer they got. When it took up most of their vision, they had to shield their eyes slightly, as the light was so intense, they couldn't tell what was on the other side. It wasn't until they were clear on the other side that they were able to open their eyes. But what they saw, they couldn't believe.

When they opened their eyes, they didn't find more forest or anything resembling what you might find at the end of a mountain cave. Before them was a hallway seemingly made of metal lined with lights. The sleek design of the metallic floor and the mechanical piping in the ceiling above them made them feel like they were in the far-off future.

"What in the…" Mamoru breathed out.

"Where is this place?" Nanako asked, though she knew no one had any idea. She turned around behind her, but only found more of the hallway. "The cave's gone!"

"We're definitely not in that cave anymore," Mai commented. Walking forward, she found a window and quickly ran towards it. When she peeked out of it, she immediately let out a scream of surprise. "AAAHH!"

"What is it, Mai-chan?" Nanako asked as she and Mamoru ran over to the window to see what she was looking at. When they looked out from the window, they gasped in collective awe.

"WE'RE IN SPAAAACE!" Mai screamed. From the window, the children could see nothing but the stars. Shining in varying degrees, it was an incredible display that they never would have imagined they would see in a long time.

"That means this must be a spaceship!" Mamoru said. "How did we get to outer space from a cave? This world is weird."

"It's weird, but it's pretty," Nanako commented. Seeing all the stars made her think of when either Yu or her father would take her to the hills over Inaba late at night to look at the starry sky. The memory of it only made her more homesick.

"What are all those lights, piro?" Piro asked, flying just above the children's heads looking out the window.

"Those are stars, Piro. You've never seen them?" Nanako asked, to which Piro shook their head. "They appear when it's night out. The sun is a star that's closest to us. The rest of them are really really far away."

"This is really all new to you?" Mamoru asked Piro. "Does that mean you've never left that forest?"

"Mmhmm. The forest was always cozy and comfortable, so I never thought about leaving, piro," Piro answered. "Up until Nanako and all of you showed up, all I did was fly around and sleep, piro."

"That sounds like the life for me!" Mamoru joked. "No homework, no bullies, no nagging mothers…but that means no games and no good meals, too."

"Chin up, Momo-kun! We haven't been here that long!" Mai said, patting Mamoru on the shoulder. "I'm sure we're one step closer to getting ourselves home! Right, Na-chan?"

"Right! But how can we get back home from here?" Nanako asked, scratching her cheek.

"Well, if I remember my shows right, we need to find the control room!" Mamoru said. "We find the controls, we can set a course for Earth!"

"There you go, Momo-kun! Think good thoughts!" Mai cheered. "So, how do we find it?"

"There has to be a map somewhere," Nanako said. "We can use that to figure out where it is."

"That's gonna be our best bet," Mamoru said with a shrug. "It's not like there's anybody here to give us directions…"

KLANK!

The sound of something metal hitting the metallic ground rang throughout the hall the children were in, surprising all of them. A plate from the ceiling had fallen down, prompting them to look up at what caused it. From the hole in the ceiling, one of the shadow creatures from before dripped down and landed on the floor with a floor with a sickening splat.

"I don't believe it! Those things are here, too?!" Mai exclaimed.

At the sound of her voice, the mask on the shadow turned to them. This time, it was an orange and white mask, with thick flat teeth lining the bottom and an orange target for a face. Suddenly, the shadow began to change shape, becoming bipedal with long, insect-like legs. Clawed arms lead up to a thin body, with a whip like tail and a long head. As it looked at the children, the mask opened to reveal razor sharp teeth and a horrible screech.

"An alien?! Are these aliens?" Mamoru shouted.

"I don't know, but run!" Mai said, as the monster reared back and lunged at the group. They managed to dodge to the side and get around behind it before any of them could come to harm.

"What do we need to run for? We got protection, remember?" Mamoru said, fists clenched. "Momotaro!"

At the call of his persona's name, Mamoru's jinbei glowed brightly before changing shape and engulfing Mamoru in a giant peach. The peach split into pieces, revealing his persona. Momotaro drew his sword as the monster lunged at him, only to have its jaws blocked by the sword.

"Heh. Not so tough, are ya?" Mamoru mocked from inside his persona. Momotaro pushed the monster off his sword and stood ready for another attack. "Girls! Go and find the map! I can handle this thing!"

"Are you sure?" Nanako asked him, extremely worried.

"Come on! It's just one of them!" he said. Just then, from behind the monster crawled three more of them. As they snarled with their sharp maws, Mamoru felt his courage drain. "Me and my big mouth!"

In response, Momotaro reached back with his sword, and with a great slash, a beam of light appeared from his sword and struck the monster in front. It barreled back and into the other monsters in the group, toppling them all over. Taking this chance, Momotaro turned back into Mamoru's jinbei, who wasted no time in running away.

"Come on! Before they get up!" Mamoru shouted to the girls as he ran towards them.

"I thought you were gonna be cool for once, Momo-kun!" Mai complained as her and Nanako ran alongside Mamoru.

"Shut up! Being cool's useless when you're ripped to pieces!" Mamoru snapped back.

"We need to find a room to hide in!" Nanako directed. "Anybody see a door?"

"They got up, piro!" Piro shouted, looking behind them and seeing the monsters quickly gaining.

The kids picked up their pace as they could hear the clicking of the monster's feet as it ran across the metallic floor. As they ran, Nanako noticed a shape in the wall, a hexagon lined with lights. Next to it was a small panel on the wall with a bright green light. She remembered something like this from a show her big brother watched.

"Over here!" she called out to the others, who quickly took notice of the door. Placing her hand on the panel, the hexagon opened up, revealing another room. Quickly, the children ran inside, Nanako being the last one. The door closed up just they could see the aliens come up to it. The sound of the monsters scratching at the door still chilled them, but at least it told them that the wall was sturdy enough.

"That was close!" Mai panted. "But where are we now?" The children turned towards the other side of the room they were in to find a large console as big as the wall. Screens of all sizes lined the top, while there were many keypads and dials on the bottom.

"I think this is the computer room," Mamoru said. "We might be able to find the map to this place from here!"

"Awesome! We're right where we need to be!" Mai cheered. "So, how do we use it?"

"I dunno," Mamoru said. "I don't see a mouse. How are we supposed to use this without a mouse?"

"Look at all these lights, piro!" Piro said, flying over to the console. Landing on one part of it, their eyes sparkled at the sight of all the colors, particularly a green button near the center. Instinctively, they pawed at it. As soon as they did, however, red lights began flashing, an alarm sounded, and a robotic voice sounded over the speakers.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! UNAUTHORIZED USE OF CONSOLE DETECTED! INITIALIZING DEFENSE PROTOCOLS!"

"What did you do, you stupid thing?!" Mamoru shouted.

"It looked so pretty, piro! I just had to touch it!" Piro cried as it flew back to the group.

From the ceiling in front of the computer, a panel opened up. From it descended what looked like some kind of white robotic egg, with a red light at the top. A bigger panel opened up underneath it, and from the floor rose a large robotic frame with a hollow center. The two pieces combined, and as the red light glowed, the completed robot sprung to life.

"DEFENSE PROTOCOLS INITIATED. ELIMINATE ALL INTRUDERS," the robot said, raising its arms.

"That means us!" Mai exclaimed.

"Aliens on one side, killer robot on the other!" Mamoru groaned. "What do we do?"

"Deal with the one in front of us!" Nanako said, stepping forward. Trying her best to imitate the courage and toughness of Kanji, she stood her ground. "Mamoru-kun! Mai-chan! Get ready to fight!"

"Okay!" the two of them nodded. Facing the robot, the children stood ready. At once, they called out.

"PERSONA!"

The children's clothes glowed brightly, until the light engulfed their bodies. From the light emerged Tamamo-no-Mae, Momotaro and Otohime. The children now safe in their personas stood at an equal height with the robot. The odds were in their favor now.

"I call dibs!" Mamoru shouted. Before anyone could protest, Momotaro drew his sword and lunged at the robot. Slashing it, however, proved useless, as the robot didn't suffer even a scratch. "Nothing?"

"Momo-kun, look out!" Mai shouted, as she saw that the robot prepared a counter attack. Turning its torso, the robot clenched its metal fist and swung it around, striking back at Momotaro and knocking him and Mamoru to the side. "Momo-kun! Take this, you tin can!"

Otohime thrust her mirror forward and fired a white light. Any area the light hit became frozen instantly, trapping the robot in a block of ice. No sooner did Mai celebrate her attack having some success did the robot manage to break free of the ice.

"Let's see if I have any better luck!" Nanako exclaimed, as Tamamo brought her hands together and summoned a circle of flames. Thrusting her arms out, the flames launched at the robot. But it had no effect, the flames simply dissipating without appearing to have done any damage.

"This thing's tough!" Mamoru said as Momotaro got back up. "We'll just have to keep chipping away at it until it goes down!"

"Wait! We can't do that!" Nanako shouted. "We'll wear ourselves before we can make a dent!"

"What can we do, Na-chan?" Mai asked. "Whatever that thing's made of, none of our attacks are damaging it!"

"Just let me think of something!" Nanako said. She swore she had seen a situation like this somewhere before. In one of her shows, perhaps? An enemy with a tough shell that the good guys had to break. How did they do it again? Wait! Now she remembered! "I got it!"

"What is it?" Mamoru said. "Make it quick!"

"Mai-chan, keep attacking that thing with your ice magic!" Nanako instructed.

"But you just said we couldn't do that!" Mai replied.

"I'll be hitting it with fire at the same time! If I'm right, it'll start to get all soft from our attacks!" Nanako elaborated.

"And then I can finish it off!" Mamoru finished. "That's brilliant!"

Mai and Nanako prepared their personas, Tamamo bringing her hands together again and Otohime firmly holding her mirror. Tamamo thrust her arms forward again, releasing a constant stream of fire. Otohime shoved the mirror in front of her, a frigid wind blowing from it.

At the same time, the robot collected energy that focused on the red light at the top. As Mai and Nanako unleashed their attacks, it fired a beam that collided with their elements. Unfortunately for it, its single attack was no match for their combined strength, and it quickly found itself engulfed in fire and ice all at once. When the attacks subsided, the robot struggled to move, its very armor beginning to crack.

"Now, Mamoru-kun!" Nanako called out.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Mamoru exclaimed, as Momotaro ran up to the robot and gave it another good slash. This time, the attack seemed to work, as the robot's outer casing gave way to Momotaro's sword.

"ERROR. ERROR. ERR…" was all the robot could utter before falling apart, the frame collapsing under the robotic egg's weight.

"It worked, piro!" Piro cheered as the children's personas turned back into their garments. "That was amazing, Nanako!"

"Hey! She shouldn't take all the credit!" Mamoru whined. "I'm the one who did the finishing blow!"

"We all did it," Nanako said with a smile. "I remembered from one of the magical girl shows I watched there was a monster that hid behind its shell. When the good guys heated it up and then froze it over and over again, it got all brittle."

"That was some good thinking," Mai said. "That's our leader!"

Just then, they heard something fall to the ground. The robotic egg that made the center of the robot fell onto its side with a loud thud. The red light blinked slowly before turning off for good. As soon as it did, lines opened up on the egg, jets of air pouring out from them. The lines outlined a hatch, creating an opening as its doors folded.

"What's that?" Mamoru asked, cautiously walking toward the egg. The others followed suit, coming up to the egg's sides. When they saw what was inside it, they collectively gasped. Laying asleep inside the egg was a boy about their age with dark purple hair, naked as the day he was born.

"Ah! It's just like Mamoru, piro! They've got a tail, too!" Piro exclaimed excitedly.

"That's…not a tail," Mamoru winced.

* * *

Alright! I'll try to have the next chapter out as soon as I can! In the meantime, you can look back on the other chapters to enjoy the new versions.


	12. Heart of the Ship

**Seeing the positive response I got from updating the story inspired me to work on the next chapter almost immediately. That, and I knew what I wanted to do rather than coming up with stuff on the fly. So, here's the newest chapter, hot and fresh right out of the kitchen! Enjoy!**

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The boy slowly opened his eyes soon after the hatch on the egg he was sleeping in was opened. They backed away to give him some space as he sat up. Looking at where he suddenly found himself, his eyes grew wide and he let out a gasp.

"Hey, buddy…you okay?" Mamoru asked the boy before he flung himself out of the pod and started running around in wonder at the room, seemingly not caring that he was stark naked.

"Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed! "It's the Kakumei from Planet Savior X! The color! The material! It's like I'm there!"

"Whoa! Slow down there!" Mamoru called out to the boy. "What are you talking about?"

"It was a show that ran 20 years ago that majorly influenced…" the boy started explaining, but started to trail off when he saw the clothes the other kids were wearing. Was that a school swimsuit? A yukata? Fox ears? And what was with the pink jinbei? "What are you wearing?"

"A lot more than you!" Mai giggled, before getting swatted on the arm by Nanako.

"What?" the boy asked, before looking down and patting himself all over. Once he noticed, his face instantly flashed crimson and he put his hands between his legs in utter embarrassment. As he looked around frantically for a place to hide himself, a screech could be heard from the door nearby.

"Shoot!" Mamoru exclaimed. "I forgot about those guys!"

"What's going on?!" the boy cried in confusion.

"We'll tell you later! Come on!" Nanako shouted, grabbing the boy by the arm and running with the rest of the group to another door in the room.

As they left the computer room, the boy saw the faintest hint of a claw pierce the wall. This prompted him to run faster, forgetting about his state of undress for the moment. Through another hall they ran, reaching another door at the end of it. Inside was a smaller room, with long thin tables flanked by small monitors.

"Now where are we?" Mai asked, panting.

"This is…the sick bay, which means…" the boy answered, quickly running over to one end of the room and disappearing around a corner. After a moment, he came back around, now wearing a light blue hospital gown and a pair of round glasses.

"You wear glasses?" Mamoru asked. "You looked like you could see just fine when you were running around the last room."

"I'm farsighted," the boy explained. "I only clearly saw the ship when I woke up. I didn't even notice you guys until you started talking. Sorry for the rudeness. And, um...for being naked..."

"That wasn't your fault," Mai said. "Besides, your little freak out made up for it. It was better than Momo-kun's!"

"Mai-chan, that's mean!" Nanako reprimanded her friend as she approached the boy. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

"Feeling better," the boy answered. "Who are you guys?"

"My name is Nanako Doujima. That's Mai Iwadoki, and this is Mamoru Wadatsume," Nanako introduced herself and the others. "What's your name?"

"I'm…Ichiro. Ichiro Kirishima," the boy introduced himself.

"Good to meet you, Icchan!" Mai exclaimed with a big smile.

"I-Icchan?"

"Mai-chan likes to give people nicknames. You'll get used to it," Nanako explained. Just then, something wriggled from under her yukata.

"Are we safe, piro?" Piro asked, their head popping out under Nanako's.

"Whoa! What is that?" Ichiro jumped back.

"I'm Piro!" they replied, flying out of Nanako's yukata.

"I met them when I first woke up," Nanako explained. "They're trying to help us get home."

"Incredible…" Ichiro took Piro into his hands and began looking them over intensively. He pressed their paws, rubbed their ears, and felt their fur. "It's so lifelike!"

"E-Excuse me…" Nanako said, trying to catch his attention. "You seem to know where we are. What was it you said? This spaceship is from an old TV show?"

"That's right. This is the Kakumei, the base ship from Planet Savior X," Ichiro said, letting go of Piro, who looked exhausted over behind examined. "I don't know how I got here, though. Last thing I remember was…"

"You were watching TV and it started acting funny?" Mai asked, finishing his sentence.

"Uh…yeah! I was watching a DVD of this show, in fact. It froze out of nowhere, and I thought the player was broken at first," Ichiro elaborated. "How did you know?"

"Because that's what happened to all of us before we woke up here," Mamoru said. "Well…not here, exactly. First, we were in a forest where we met our furry friend, then we went into a cave, and then somehow, we ended up in this spaceship. It's been really weird."

"So…you don't know how you got here either? What about those clothes? Where did you get them?" Ichiro asked as he rubbed the sleeve on Mamoru's jinbei. "They feel so comfy."

"Hey! Hands off!" Mamoru exclaimed as he pulled Ichiro's hand away. "That's my persona you're touching!"

"Per…sona? What's that?"

"It's something like a spirit of protection," Nanako explained. "When we first woke up here, none of us had any of our clothes, just like you. But after we got personas, they turned into these clothes when we're not using them."

"That sounds cool," Ichiro commented. "How do I get one?"

"It's something that comes from inside yourself," she further elaborated. "When you gather your courage to face the world, your persona appears!"

"Courage? After waking up naked in front of other kids, and knowing there are actual monsters after us, I don't feel very courageous right now…" Ichiro said, fidgeting awkwardly.

"Don't worry about it, Icchan!" Mai said approaching Ichiro. "You'll find your courage soon enough. The rest of us did!"

"If you say so…"

"Ichiro-kun, since you know this ship better than us, can you show us to the control room?" Nanako requested. "If we can get control of this ship, we might find a way to get back home."

"Sure. Let me see if I can get the map up from here," Ichiro nodded and headed over to the console on the wall.

"Wait! Don't touch that!" Mamoru shouted after him, but when Ichiro started pressing keys, the screen above turned on just as any normal computer would. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Ichiro asked.

"We tried that when we first got here, but it just started making all this noise, and sent a giant robot after us!" Mai answered.

"You probably used it wrong," he simply responded as he began to type on the keypad vigorously. Soon, a display showing the entirety of the ship appeared on the screen. "Let's see…we're on one side of the ship, and the control room is in the front. We can take the hall that's just out this door."

"Sounds easy," Mamoru said. "So long as we don't run into any more shadows along the way, we'll be fine!"

"Shadows?" Nanako asked.

"Yeah, those monsters. They start out looking like crawling shadows, so I'm thinking of calling them shadows. Makes the most sense," he elaborated.

"I guess…" she shrugged. "We can decide on names and stuff later. Let's get moving."

"Okay, piro!" Piro called.

After making sure the hall was clear, the children filed through, sticking close to each other for safety. The route to the control room was longer than the map made it look, and it made them a little uneasy. Sensing this, Mai thought some small talk would help.

"So, Icchan, where are you from?" Mai asked. "Na-chan, Momo-kun and I all know each other because we live in the same town and go to the same school. What about you?"

"I'm from Mikage-cho," Ichiro answered. "It's kind of a big city."

"A city, huh? Ours is a little town called Inaba," Mamoru said. "It's a pretty boring place. Only thing saving it is the Junes that they opened a couple years ago."

"That's not true!" Nanako reprimanded. "Inaba has plenty to do besides the Junes! You can fish in the river, catch bugs in the park, go to the hot springs at the Amagi Inn, and the old shopping district's still good!"

"Not for much longer!" Mamoru said, before his face quickly soured. "The only people who shop there are old hags who do nothing but gossip, anyway…"

"Hey, let's not bring this whole team down talking about problems, okay?" Mai pleaded. "Why don't you tell us what's in Mikage-cho, Icchan?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary for a city," Ichiro replied, scratching his cheek. "A big company used to have their headquarters there, according to Mother and Father, but it's not there anymore."

"Now that sounds boring," Mamoru quipped.

"Probably," Ichiro said. "I hardly ever have time to do anything, anyway. I'm so swamped with studying, I haven't even had the chance to make friends at school…"

"Really?" Nanako asked. "That's so sad..."

"It's not so bad. I have my shows and my models I build," Ichiro sighed. "I don't think I'm missing out on much..."

"But you can't spend your whole life alone!" Nanako exclaimed, taking Ichiro's hand in her own. "How about you let us be your friends?"

"What? But we just met!"

"Doesn't matter!" Nanako instantly retorted. "You don't have to know a person for a long time to become their friend! I don't think you're someone bad who doesn't deserve friends, Ichiro-kun! You're someone nice!"

"Nanako-chan..."

"There she goes," Mai said with a grin. "She's got a face you just can't say 'No' to."

"Don't we know it..." Mamoru sighed.

"It's good to have friends, piro!" Piro chirped. "I don't know how I ever got along without all of you!"

"Wait. We're friends now?" Mamoru quipped.

Just then, a rattling could be heard coming from the walls and the ceiling. At the sound of the noise, the children huddled closer to each other and watched where the noises went. Suddenly, a piece of the wall was knocked away and one of the alien shadows crawled out of the fresh hole.

"They caught up with us!" Mamoru shouted. "Why did I think they wouldn't go through the walls?!"

"Stay behind us, Ichiro-kun! We got this!" Nanako instructed. Once Ichiro was behind him, she looked to the others, who promptly nodded in confirmation.

"PERSONA!"

Ichiro watched in awe as the three children's clothes began to glow before they were enveloped in light. Seeing their personas appear was like something out of a dream. He couldn't help but cheer at the sight of them.

"Whoa! You guys are the real deal!"

"Isn't it amazing, piro?" Piro asked, flying next to Ichiro. "I had no idea they could do something like this at first!"

"But can they do this? They're looking a little outnumbered…" Ichiro said worryingly, seeing more monsters crawl from out of the walls.

"Is there a whole party in the walls or something?!" Mamoru complained from inside Momotaro. "We don't have time for this!"

"Even if we beat this many, who knows how many are waiting?" Mai asked, firing an ice shard towards the monsters. One was struck down, but the monsters next to it just stepped in its place. "We can't just fight our way through, Na-chan!"

"I know! Just let me think of something!" Nanako replied. She tried having Tamamo toss a fireball, but the monsters seemed fairly resistant to it, brushing the attack off easily.

"Brute strength alone isn't going to work," Ichiro lamented. He looked around frantically, trying to look for anything the others might use. He then noticed the pipes running along the ceiling. "I got it! Guys! I have an idea!"

"Spill it! And quick!" Mamoru shouted, having Momotaro fend off a monster that lunged at the group.

"Right! Mai-chan! Use those ice powers on the floor! Stop them in their tracks!" Ichiro instructed.

"Like this?" Mai asked, as Otohime pointed her mirror towards the floor and fired an ice beam. As it skimmed past the aliens, their feet quickly became stuck to the floor as they were covered in ice. "Hey, it worked!"

"We're not done yet! Mamoru-kun, cut those pipes in the ceiling!" Ichiro shouted at Mamoru.

"Gotcha! I don't even have to move an inch!" Mamoru replied as Momotaro drew his sword back and sliced the air. A wave of energy emitted from the sword, flying above the aliens and striking the ceiling. Gas began to pour out of the pipes right on top of the monsters.

"Okay! After this last part, we need to run for the door as fast as we can!" Mamoru carefully instructed. "Nanako-chan! Throw some fire at the stuff pouring out of the ceiling!"

"You got it! Everyone! On the count of three, we all run for the door!" Nanako exclaimed. Already, Mai and Mamoru recalled their personas, turning them back into garments. "One…two…THREE!"

The instant Tamamo threw a single fireball towards the gas and the aliens under it, she vanished back into Nanako's yukata, who wasted no time in turning around and breaking into a run. The rest of the group followed suit, running along with her in a mad dash towards the door. The fireball Nanako's persona threw drifted towards the aliens, still stuck in the ice, and mixed with the gas pouring from above. Mixing with the fire made the gas catch fire instantly, turning a single fireball into a raging inferno that quickly roasted the aliens. The resulting explosion caught up with the children just as they reached the end of the hallway, knocking them forward and out of the door. The alien's screams were silenced as the door closed shut behind them.

"Phew! That was crazy!" Mai exclaimed, getting back up to her feet. "I almost want to do that again!"

"That could've killed us!" Mamoru argued. "What were you thinking, man?"

"We're okay, and we took care of the shadows, didn't we?" Nanako asked. "Your plan worked really well, Ichiro-kun. Thank you."

"I can't take all the credit," Ichiro said, readjusting his glasses. "I actually got the idea from an episode of Planet Savior X. The main character was cornered in a hallway by a bunch of aliens, and he had to…"

"Okay, okay. We get it. You don't need to give us the whole thing," Mamoru said, patting Ichiro on the shoulder. "You did good, man. Even if it was crazy."

"Mmhmm!" Nanako nodded. "Where are we now?"

The new room the children found themselves was very big, a window to the outside taking up half the ceiling. More computers lined the edges of the room, with empty chairs placed at each monitor. One particularly large chair was at the very center of the room, looking out into the vast cosmos ahead.

"This is the control room!" Ichiro exclaimed. "We made it!"

"All right!" Mai cheered. "Let's take the wheel and hurry on home!"

"And what makes you believe you can commandeer my ship?!"

A sudden voice caught the children's attention. A rather familiar sounding voice at that. The large chair in the center turned around to face them. Sitting in the chair, dressed in a green and black jumpsuit, was…Ichiro?

"What the…?"

* * *

**The plot thickens, and in a somewhat familiar fashion. What do you guys think? Let me know what you think of Ichiro in the comments! I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, so as not to leave you in suspense.**


	13. Fly! Archimedes!

**Feels nice to update regularly. I hope I can continue this trend, because I feel like I've left you all waiting too long to see what happens next! But here's the last part in Ichiro's little saga, so enojy!**

* * *

This was a rather strange development. This person standing in front of them looked just like Ichiro, from the hair to the eyes. So who was the boy standing with them, and who was this new stranger? A moment of shocked silence passed before someone spoke up.

"Hey, Ichiro…" Piro said, confused, "why does he look like you, piro?"

"I…I don't know!" Ichiro quickly answered. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"You should know what I am, Ichiro," the look-alike said, peering at the group with his bright yellow eyes. "I'm you! Or rather, the you that you want to be."

"That I want to be? What are you talking about?"

"Hmm…a pity to see you so lost and confused," the other boy frowned. "Especially since you're the one that created this world!"

"What did you say?!"

"You created this place?" Mamoru asked, approaching Ichiro. "Are you the one who kidnapped us?"

"No, I'm not! I never knew you guys until now! Why would I kidnap you?" Ichiro replied. "If that was true, that would be me standing over there! Well, I mean…the actual me! Not this…faker!"

"That's enough, Mamoru-kun," Nanako commanded, pushing the two boys apart before walking towards the look-alike. "What do you mean, Ichiro-kun created this world? Do you mean the ship?"

"That's right," the look-alike answered. "How do you think he found not only that gown in his size, but those glasses that are a perfect copy of the pair he wears in the outside world?"

"Now that you mention it," Mai said, "he also knew what ship this was. I don't think this boy's lying, Na-chan."

"But…if that's true, then why did that giant robot that had Ichiro-kun inside it attack us?" Nanako asked. "If Ichiro-kun created this world, the shadows wouldn't attack kids like him!"

"They attacked because you were all intruders!" the fake Ichiro exclaimed. "The shadows here, as well as the security robot, were trying to eliminate any interlopers from waking the host! After Ichiro woke up, they were trying to bring him back."

"Host?" Mamoru asked. "What's he the host of?"

"This world, of course! From deep within his desires, this world was created. It was him sleeping and dreaming that allowed this world, and his ideal self, to exist! But now that he's awake, the existence of this world is threatened. If he's not put back to sleep soon, this world will crumble, and I along with it."

"Well, I don't want to stay asleep!" Ichiro shouted. "If I really created you and this world, then you ought to be able to do what I say. So, let us go!"

"You don't mean that," the other Ichiro said with a smirk.

"Of course he does, piro!" Piro piped up. "Why would he say it if he didn't mean it?"

"Because it's not what he truly wants, is it, Ichiro?" the fake asked. "You only want out because you think you have to. That you're supposed to go back to the outside world. But you couldn't care less about the world outside, could you?"

"That…that's not true…" Ichiro said weakly.

"You should really stop lying to yourself," the fake reprimanded Ichiro. "The world outside this dream has nothing for you. Here, you have all the time in the world to live out your fantasies! Be the captain of this ship! Have adventures out in the cosmos!"

"But he still has his life outside!" Nanako interrupted. "What about his family?"

"The same family that put him into class after class of after-school study? The family that constantly tell him the fate of the family name rests on his shoulders?" the other Ichiro questioned, with increasing fury. "With no friends by his side, the only things he has are his books, his shows and his models. He finally has a chance to get away from all of that, and you want to take it away?"

"But it's not real!" Nanako exclaimed. "I don't know how bad it is to live like that, but living in a dream…it's not the same."

"Come on, Icchan!" Mai implored. "There's got to be something good about the real world! You don't really want to stay here…do you?"

"Shut up…" they heard faintly from Ichiro.

"Icchan?"

"I said shut up!" Ichiro shouted, turning towards the other children. "What do you know about me to say I should go back?!"

"Are you serious?" Mamoru asked. "You really want to go back to sleep? I know things are bad out there, but maybe we can…"

"No!" Ichiro refused. "If it means I don't have to deal with the real world anymore…if it means that I don't have to be chased by those shadows anymore…then I wish I never woke up!"

"Good boy. It's time to go back to sleep," the other Ichiro smiled, suddenly appearing behind the real Ichiro. From behind the fake Ichiro, long black arms appeared and wrapped themselves around the two, and a large black pool extended out from beneath them.

"What the-? That other Ichiro was a shadow the whole time!" Mamoru exclaimed.

"Ichiro-kun!" Nanako shouted, running towards him. But by the time she reached him, he had been pulled into the black pool by the shadow Ichiro and disappeared. As the large shadow moved away, Ichiro's hospital gown and glasses could be seen left behind on the floor.

"Icchan…" Mai said woefully.

"I have to thank you three for saving me the trouble of finding him," the shadow's voice could be heard, now distorted and almost demonic. "For your efforts, I shall make sure you die quick and painlessly!"

The large shadow came closer to the front of the room, and from it emerged a monster. It was a much larger version of the aliens they had fought, with much more of a reptilian head and a long jaw. As it stood up, the children could see its exposed ribcage, the bones holding a capsule with Ichiro, curled up and asleep.

"Ichiro's trapped in that thing, piro!" Piro shouted. "We've gotta get him out!"

"I know!" Nanako nodded. "Come on, everyone!"

"PERSONA!"

Piro hid into a corner while the children summoned their personas. Within the safety of their personas, they were at about equal height with the monster. But while there was safety in numbers, the strength of the monster could make all the difference, and they knew that.

"Hang on, Ichiro-kun!" Nanako called out. "We'll save you!"

The monster began the battle, lunging itself towards the children. Swiftly dodging the attack, the children kept themselves a good distance away. Ichiro seemed unfazed by the monster's movements, still slumbering within the monster.

"That thing's fast!" Mamoru exclaimed. "Momotaro can probably match its speed. I'll keep it busy while the two of pelt it with your attacks!"

"But what about Icchan?" Mai asked. "If we attack it, we might hurt him!"

"So what?!" Mamoru snapped back. "He chose to stay here! Why should we care?"

"Momo-kun!"

"Mai-chan's right!" Nanako told Mamoru. "We can't let him stay like this!"

"We can't let that thing kill us, either!" Mamoru retorted. "What are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know! Just…let me think of something!"

"Think of it quick!" Mamoru shouted as the monster launched itself towards him and Momotaro. The persona managed to keep the monster's jaws away with their sword, but its strength was still proving to be an issue, as it was able to press more and more on Mamoru. "Grr…why couldn't you just come with us, you gigantic moron?!"

At the utterance of this, the monster seemed to pause, almost as if in response. This brief pause gave Momotaro the chance to push the monster back. It fell on to its back, scrambling its limbs before getting back up, letting off a growl.

"It stopped!" Mai pointed out. "You think that was Icchan?"

"That means he can hear us!" Nanako surmised. "Maybe there is a way to save him!"

"Any way works with me! Hey! Bozo! Wake up already!" Mamoru shouted. The monster replied by swinging its tail towards Momotaro, nearly knocking Mamoru off his feet.

"That's not what he needs to hear, Mamoru-kun!" Nanako told him. She had Tamamo drift closer to the monster, hoping it would be close enough for Ichiro to hear her. "Ichiro-kun! Please! Wake up! Come with us!"

The monster reared back with a growl before leaping into the air with its claws outstretched. Plunging downward, it aimed directly for Tamamo and Nanako. Were it not for Mamoru interfering with an attack from the side, the monster would have surely finished her.

"He didn't want to come with us, remember?" Mamoru reprimanded Nanako. "I don't think asking him nicely is going to cut it here!"

"Well, we'll just have to make him listen, won't we?" Mai said. Otohime slammed the side of her mirror down to the ground. Quickly, ice formed along the floor towards the monster, caking its feet in ice. As much as the monster struggled, it couldn't break itself free.

"Good job, Mai-chan!" Mamoru cheered. "Now, let's break him out of that-"

Before Mamoru could finish his sentence, he saw Tamamo move towards the monster at a full pace. Launching herself into the air, Tamamo spread her arms wide as she landed and latched herself and Nanako onto the monster. The monster could only roar and screech at them, still immobilized in ice.

"Are you crazy?!" Mamoru shouted. "He'll tear you apart!"

"Ichiro-kun! Listen to me!" Nanako shouted to the boy inside, ignoring Mamoru. "I know what it's like, being scared of the real world! Like you just want to get away from it, because it's sad and lonely and scary! But it doesn't have to be!"

"What does she think she's doing?" Mamoru asked. "It's too dangerous to try and wrestle that thing!"

"Wait! She's not wrestling it!" Mai said in realization. "She's trying to give Icchan a hug!"

"Seriously? Does she think that's going to work?"

"Only one way to find out!" Mai exclaimed before moving Otohime closer to the monster herself and latching onto it next to Tamamo. "Come on, Icchan! Na-chan's right! You don't have to shut yourself up in this dream forever!"

"I remember…after my mom died, Dad was hardly ever home, and I was too shy to talk to anybody!" Nanako explained, Tamamo clinging onto the shadow with all her strength. "But there were people to help me! Like Mai-chan and Big Bro!"

"If you can't make friends at school, then we'll be your friends! Me, Na-chan, Momo-kun, and Piro!" Mai added. "Even though we live in different towns, we'll find a way! That's what friends do!"

"You don't have to be alone anymore! So, please!" Nanako pleaded. "Ichiro-kun! Ichiro-kun!"

* * *

"Ichiro-kun."

The sound of his mother's voice came to him from the other side of the doorway. His hero was in the middle of a fierce battle, and having to put it on hold for the sake of his parents was always annoying. Even still, he felt it worth the effort to at least lend his mother an ear. Placing his toys on his desk, he turned his chair around to face her.

"Your father and I were getting worried," his mother said, stepping into his room. She was known as a beauty and a top student back in her school days, and that didn't diminish with age or childbirth. "I know your grades are good, but I'm worried about how much time you spend cooped up in this room. You really ought to try making some friends."

"It's fine," Ichiro quickly replied. "No one wants to make friends with an egghead like me…they just want to copy my homework or want me to help in their studies or are just tricking me. I'm not going to find anyone who wants to be friends with me honestly."

"That can't be true," her mother said sadly. "I know it seems bad, Ichiro-kun, but I know how you feel."

Ichiro perked up. Was he hearing things, or did his mother sound a lot like Nanako when she said, "I know how you feel"? He shook it off, and internally reprimanded himself.

"How could you know?" he asked, turning back around in his chair. "You had friends at school."

"Yes, but not at first. Nobody really liked me because I did so well. They thought I was haughty and carried myself above them," she said. "The truth is I was just happy to do so well. I didn't see myself as better, but rather, I held myself as an inspiration for other students to follow. Eventually, there were those who saw that, and they became my friends. That was how I met your father, you know."

"I know," Ichiro said, annoyed at being reminded of that story. "But how do I know when someone's honest and want's to be my friend? How do I keep myself from getting tricked again?"

"I can't tell you that. There's really no one way to do it," his mother replied. "All I can tell you is to listen to that voice in your heart and trust it to guide you."

"…ro-kun! Ichiro-kun!"

"Icchan!"

Where were those voices coming from? Looking about, Ichiro's attention was drawn to the toys on his desk, the model of the Kakumei and a space monster. Listening carefully, he could hear his name being called from inside the ship!

"Mom…I know you're just a dream…" he struggled to say. "I'm going to listen to my heart, and my heart says…I have to go."

He reached for the ship and took hold of it. From inside the windows of the model, a great light grew that nearly blinded him. Still, he held on to the ship, as the light seemed to erase everything around him until he could see nothing else.

* * *

The capsule the monster held burst into light, blowing away not only the monster, but Otohime and Tamamo as well. When the light faded, the kids saw Ichiro as he floated down to the ground and land on his feet. He may have been naked again, but that didn't bother him at the moment.

"Icchan!" Mai cried. "You did it!"

"Could you hear us after all?" Nanako asked.

"I did," Ichiro answered. "If you really meant that you want to try and be friends, even though we just met and live kilometers apart, then…I'll trust you. That's why…I'm gonna fight and get back home!"

A small blue light flew out of Ichiro's chest and flew around him. It stopped just ahead of him, beckoning him to grab it. The light turned into a blue card in his hands, fascinating him.

"Hey, you got your persona!" Mamoru said. "Good for you, dude!"

"Thank you! Now to use it!" Ichiro recalled what the others did when they summoned their persona. He raised the card above his head and shouted with full conviction. "PERSONA!"

The card brightly glowed, as a structure formed around Ichiro's body. Closing up, the structure appeared to be a golden egg, with small openings showing cogs and gears turning, like an old clock. A second later, the egg unfolded, revealing a large mechanical owl, gold and green. Two giant gears made the rims of its huge eyes that opened as its large wings spread to let it fly. In a voice heard in their heads, the owl spoke.

_Thou art I, and I art thou. From the sea of the soul, I come to aid you. I am Archimedes, the grand scholar!_

"Wow! It looks so different from ours!" Nanako said.

"It's kind of cute, actually," Mai commented. "Who knew Icchan would get a persona like that?"

"Better question is, can he fight with it?" Mamoru asked.

"I can see it…" Ichiro said from within his persona. "I can see this monster's weakness! It prefers the darkness, so bright light will scare it!"

"Bright light, huh?" Mai said with a smirk. "Then how about this?"

Otohime brought her mirror up above her head. Turning it at just the right angle caught the light from the control room's ceiling and reflected it straight into the monster's eyes. It recoiled and screeched, standing up on its hind legs to cover its eyes with its front claws.

"There!" Ichiro gasped. "Its chest is its softest part! Go for it while it's exposed!"

"Leave that to me!" Mamoru shouted. Momotaro leapt towards the monster and continuously slashed at the chest. With every cut, the monster let out a cry of pain.

"Good job, Mamoru-kun! My turn now!" Nanako exclaimed. Keeping her hands apart like she was holding a bow and arrow, Tamamo prepared a long fireball. At the right moment, she let it fly, piercing the shadow through the chest. Clutching its chest, the monster collapsed as it began to fade into light until it was no more.

"Woohoo! You beat it, piro!" Piro shouted, coming out of their hiding spot. "I knew you could do it, piro!"

"Thanks to Ichiro-kun and his persona!" Nanako said. "You saved our lives!"

"After I put you all in danger," Ichiro said. "I'm sorry about all that, you guys."

"Ah, you were scared," Mamoru scoffed. "People do stupid things when they're scared. Besides, you helped us beat that thing, so we'll call it even."

"And you wanted to leave him behind!" Mai snarked.

"Sh-shut up!" he snapped back. Suddenly, a violent shaking overtook the whole ship. Alarms began blaring and lights began flashing red. "Now, what's going on?!"

"It's because I decided to wake up!" Ichiro shouted. "This world's fading fast, and the ship is on a crash course with something!"

"We're gonna crash?! After all that?!" Mamoru shouted. "What do we do?"

"I have an idea!" Nanako said. "Everyone huddle together! Our personas will protect us!"

Without another word, everyone's persona gathered in the center of the room. Piro took shelter in the middle as they all held each other close. Eyes tightly shut, they waited for the inevitable impact as the ship seemed to land on something, causing even more shaking. Eventually, it was too much to bear, and Nanako and the others could feel their consciousness fading as they passed out.

* * *

**And another joins the party! But what of our heroes? Stay tuned, fans!**

**Favorites, follows and reviews are always welcome, as you know. Let me know what you think of Ichiro and his persona, Archimedes. To give you all a taste of what's next, know that we'll be revisiting the Investigation Team as we see what they're up to, and how they're dealing with their situation. See you later!**


	14. A Chance to Reflect

**Sorry about the delay again! Holiday season has been kicking my ass! But good news: I have a tumblr now! You can follow me at .com, where I can answer questions and provide updates for my stories.**

* * *

"Man, how long does this forest go on for?! Seriously! It did not look this far from that cliff!" While Yosuke was saying what was on just about everyone's minds at the moment, it did not make his whiny tone about it any more tolerable.

"If you start saying, 'Are we there yet?', I swear I'm gonna pound you!" Chie snapped.

"Knock it off, you two," Yu said. Everyone was in various moods since they started walking towards their destination. "I know we look like kids right now, but that doesn't mean we have to act like kids."

"Speak for yourself, partner," Yosuke smirked. "Look at Rise!"

Yosuke motioned towards Rise, who was at the head of their little group. While everyone else was taking an easy jaunt, she seemed to have a bit of a spring to her step. Fitting for someone who was actually six years old, but they had already regained their memories, which made her behavior a little strange.

"Yeah! You seem rather chipper, Rise-chan," Teddie pointed out. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"I know it's weird, since we're on a mission to save Nanako-chan and all, but I just can't seem to help it!" Rise said with a smile on her face. "I feel so full of energy! Everything aside, it really feels neat to be a kid again! Like, all I wanna do is run around! Climb trees! Roll in the grass!"

"Did you do that a lot when you were a kid?" Yu asked.

"No! Which makes it all the more tempting!" Rise replied. "I lived in the city with my folks most of the time, only visiting my grandma in Inaba at least twice a month. Even then, my parents or Grandma kept a close eye on me, always telling me I couldn't do this and couldn't do that. And if I did any of that in my high school years, well…it would just look weird."

"True. Any of us doing things like kids do when we're our normal selves would look pretty embarrassing," Yosuke said, peering down at his large shirt. "Not that it doesn't feel embarrassing right now. Geez, it's drafty! Is this what it's like to wear a skirt?"

"Heh. Not so cute now that the shoe's on the other foot, huh?" Chie said with a smirk. "I didn't think you would care so much about covering up, Yosuke-kun! It's not like you have much to hide!"

"As if you're any better off, Miss Flat Chest!" Yosuke huffed.

"You'd think that comment would bother me, but it really doesn't!" Chie deflected. "It actually feels rather nice not having to worry about your boobs swinging everywhere when you walk around. I'm sure you feel better about that too, don't you, Naoto-kun?"

"Please don't include me in this conversation," Naoto pleaded. "I realize the initial shock of our regression has passed, but that still doesn't ease my mind from the fact that it happened in the first place."

"Mind still on the case?" Yu asked.

"Yes. I'm still trying to figure our suspect out."

"Really? Someone kidnapped a bunch of little kids, left their clothes behind, and now they're naked somewhere in this world," Yosuke said. "What's there to figure out that we can't already guess?"

"I don't care what their reason is! When we come face to face with the creep, I'm not even gonna let them get finished with their little monologue! Just a swift kick in the butt!" Chie exclaimed, ending her sentence off with a straight kick, noticing too late that it caused her top to move up a little too high. "Eek!"

As Chie quickly moved to pull her top down, Yukiko couldn't help but let out a little laugh. Her face red, Chie groused at her friend, who still kept a smile on their face. Not at all bothered, Yukiko put her hands behind her back.

"Sorry, Chie-chan," she said. "It's just so funny to see you so embarrassed about that when you look so young."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I just remember a certain someone who used to take off her clothes and play in the river with the boys," Yukiko said teasingly.

"No way!" Yosuke exclaimed, to which Yukiko simply nodded. "Wow, Chie! You really did act like 'one of the boys' back then, didn't you?"

"Oh, shove it!" Chie snapped back, her face redder than before. "Yuki-chan, how could you share something like that?!"

"I don't see what the big deal is. Looking back on it, it's really cute, don't you think?" Yukiko asked.

"You sound like a mother who shows off pictures of their kid in the bath," Chie grumbled. "At least I wasn't so scared from being naked outdoors that I couldn't move…Hey! I remembered that!"

"Oh, that's so cute!" Yosuke said, causing Yukiko to frown. "It's okay, Yukiko-chan. It's perfectly normal for a girl to be embarrassed at being outside in the buff. Chie's just weird."

"Really?" Yu asked. "Because if I remember correctly, you wouldn't move from behind a tree until I found you that shirt."

"H-Hey!" Yosuke shouted, his face now red. "I grew up in the city, okay? City boys don't really have opportunities to play in the river or things like that! How about you, partner?"

"Hmm?"

"You seemed…happier when you were younger, Yu-kun," he elaborated. "Thinking back on it, it's kind of weird to think of you with such an honest wide smile on your face."

"Well…back then, it hadn't really hit me that my family's constant moving meant that I'd never make any friends," Yu said solemnly. "So, whenever I saw someone new, I saw a new chance to make a friend."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Rise swooned. "Now I wish you really did come to Inaba when you were little!"

"Yeah! Yukiko and I would've totally been your friends, Yu-kun!" Chie chimed in. "So long as all that other stuff that happened after you moved here didn't happen. That would just be weird."

As the others talked, Naoto looked on with a somber look still on her face. A small bit of envy generated inside her, seeing everyone reminiscing and laughing about it. She felt like she was the only one who was still thinking about their mission. Just then, someone tapped her shoulder.

"Hey," Kanji whispered to her. "If you want to trade clothes because you wanna feel like you're wearing pants again, let me know, yeah?"

"Thank you, Kanji-kun," Naoto said, slightly embarrassed, "but you don't need to worry about me. My need to dress like a boy has actually been growing less and less for some time now. I only ever do so when I go outside now. Since I've been reverted to this age, maybe I can get a feel for it again."

"Well, whatever you want to do, you know you have our support!" As Kanji and Naoto smiled at each other, they were startled when Rise came up to them, walking backwards.

"So…I haven't heard from the two of you yet," Rise said, smiling. "Do you remember what happened when you woke up here?"

The two of them were about to say something, recalling back to when they first woke up in the forest. A hazy memory came to them, the first thing they saw when they opened their eyes. Blood rushed to their faces as they instantly looked away from each other.

"I don't remember!" they said at the same time. Rise merely turned back around, an eyebrow raised but a smirk on her face.

"A-Anyway! Teddie!" Naoto called. "Have you been able to sniff out any shadows this whole time we've been here? Are we even still in the world inside the TV?"

"Oh, yeah! We're still in that world! Has the same air I could just feel in my fur," Teddie replied. "As for shadows, though, I haven't smelled them at all. Which is really weird, because you think they'd have pounced on us by now."

"Is that really a problem?" Yosuke asked. "Given what we look like now, having to fight shadows was one of our biggest worries. If we don't have to deal with them, that should make finding the kids easier, right?"

"But Rise-chan detected shadows before we wound up in this forest," Naoto pointed out. "If they're not here, then where are they?"

"You suppose they're guarding the place the children are being kept?" Yukiko guessed. "There's never been this amount of people inside the TV world before. Whoever or whatever is controlling the shadows must be using them to make sure none of the children escape."

"Poor Nanako-chan. I hope she's okay, wherever she is," Chie said. "I can't imagine how scary this must be for her. You think she's still fine?"

"Considering the most people have endured here is exhaustion, even after being stuck for weeks, starvation isn't too much of a danger," Naoto replied, starting to look more worried. "Come to think of it, how long have we been out? How long did we wander around, thinking we were still children?"

"I don't think we spent that long being lost," Yosuke said. "But how long did we spend in that river? I think we were lucky we washed up on the bank. Who knows where we would've ended up if we didn't."

"You think it leads to where the kids are being held?" Kanji theorized. "It's how we got here."

"If that was true, we would've seen it," Naoto said. "Though, that could easily mean our culprit is done kidnapping. All the disappearances did happen in the span of one day. Still, we should keep moving towards that mountain. If that's where the children are, we'll find a way to them."

"Right. I just hope we're strong enough to take on whoever's behind this," Yosuke said. "I thought being out of practice for a few months was gonna be our biggest hurdle. Boy, was I wrong."

"I didn't think it was even possible to get turned into a little kid," Yukiko said. "That kind of thing only happens in manga and other stories."

"Neither did I, but we've fought gods believed to exist only in the minds of people," Naoto pointed out. "It seems anything's possible on the other side of the TV. Just because we've never encountered it before doesn't mean it can't happen."

"That's a rather different take than what you've been about before, Miss Logic," Rise teased.

"Yes, well…" Naoto cleared her throat. "During the past year, I have found myself forced to accept that there are stranger things in the world than what I first perceived. Even with that in mind, I'm still surprised. If the situation weren't so dire, I would love to take the time to study the psychological effects of physical regression."

"I know what you mean," Yukiko said. "Seeing everybody here, it's like we're a bunch of childhood friends that made our own club and we're having an adventure outside of town."

"Oh yeah! Like what I had with some of the neighborhood boys!" Chie said. "Those were some good times!"

"I've always wanted to be in one of those!" Rise said excitedly. "With a clubhouse, an oath, a banner and everything!"

"You know, in a way, we did kind of do that already," Yosuke said. "Sure, it wasn't until we were all in high school, but we did have our own tight knit group that met up in the same spot kind of like a clubhouse…"

"That's true, isn't it?" Chie asked, hitting her open palm with her fist. "I guess I didn't really see it that way because we were actually saving people who were actually in danger. Kind of takes the fun out of the whole thing."

"Who says this can't be fun?" Rise asked, walking up behind Yosuke before putting her hand on her shoulder. "Tag!"

"Hey! Rise-chan!" Yosuke shouted after Rise. "What are you doing?"

"Come on, everyone! Yosuke-senpai's 'It'! Run away!" Rise cried. At that point, Yukiko pulled Chie's arm as they ran off, Rise and Yu ran in another direction together, and Teddie grabbed both Kanji and Naoto's wrists before pulling them yet another way.

"Seriously, guys?! We're doing this?" Yosuke asked into the ether. When no one answered, he contorted his face into a pout. "Fine! Here I come!"

She started off looking for Teddie. Teddie's blue costume amongst all the bushes and trees would stick out like a sore thumb, so he would be the easiest target. The direction he went in seemed to go deeper into the bush, forcing Yosuke to maneuver carefully to avoid catching his shirt on the branches.

"Can't believe everybody's going along with this…" he muttered to himself. "We're on a kidnapping case here, and they want to play tag? This is making everybody crazy…"

After combing through the bushes carefully, he found the familiar blue color of Teddie's head. Neither Kanji or Naoto was in sight, but so long as somebody else was "it", that's all that mattered to him. Keeping her excitement in check, he stepped slowly towards him, careful not to make any noise. Finally, he got close enough, and it seemed that Teddie hadn't heard him.

"Yaah!" Yosuke leapt at Teddie and tackled him to the ground, only to have the costume head pop off. The suit deflated underneath Yosuke, revealing it to be empty. "What the-?"

A burst of laughter directed Yosuke's attention to somewhere close by. From out of the bushes, a head of blond hair popped up, giggling with glee at his folly. As quickly as he appeared, Teddie ran bare bottomed away from Yosuke.

"Grr! I'll get you for this, you stupid bear!" Yosuke shouted getting back up on his feet. Looking down at the empty costume, he let out a sigh. "At least I know nobody else will try to pull this."

Leaving the costume be, Yosuke followed the direction he saw Teddie run in. It appeared that Teddie had run back to where everyone was previously grouped up. Just out of the corner of his eye, Yosuke caught the quick sight of Teddie running across to another end of the bush. If he could speed up a bit, he'd have his catch.

He quickly stepped through the bush, erratically looking around for any sign of Teddie or possibly the others. There was no way they could've gotten that far away from him. They did have a mission to do, after all. After getting his shirt free from a branch for the tenth time, he heard something from a nearby tree.

"Hey, Senpai!" he heard Rise call out. Yosuke wasted no time going around the tree before stopping dead in his tracks. Rise was standing there, lifting up her blouse and exposing herself to him. "Ta-da!"

"Gah!" Instinctively, Yosuke's face turned red as he spun around to avoid eye contact. "I didn't see anything!"

"Ha ha ha! Come on! Go go go!" Rise called out to the others as Yosuke heard more feet and movement than he thought there was. His face grimaced as he realized he had been duped.

"Rrrgh! That's just playing dirty, Rise!" Yosuke turned back around to face Rise, only to find her gone. "Don't think I'll fall for that twice!"

Making a mad dash in the direction he knew she had to run in, Yosuke continued his pursuit. He no longer cared about the branches in the bushes. He just wanted this stupid game to end so they could get back to trying to find the kidnapped children.

"I'll bend them over and spank them myself if I have to!" he told himself. "This isn't helping us at all! How are supposed to figure out what's going in here if-"

WHAM!

"Agh!"

In trying to get through some leaves, Yosuke suddenly found himself colliding with something solid. Very solid, enough that it caused him to stop and fall over. Coughing from the air getting knocked out of his lungs, Yosuke slowly got back up.

"What the hell? What was that?" Yosuke looked at what was in his way. Now that he had stopped, he found a rather peculiarly shaped bush. Much bigger than the others around it, it seemed less like a bush, and more like something that was merely covered in leaves. Approaching it with his hands out, he padded at the bush, only to hear something like his hands hitting metal!

"Whoa! Hey guys! I found something!" Yosuke called out into the air to alert the others. No response came, however, which only served to annoy Yosuke more. "I swear, this isn't a trick! There's something weird over here!"

Slowly, he saw the others poke their heads into his view. First was Yu and Rise, who started walking towards Yosuke hand in hand. Then was Chie and Yukiko, followed by Kanji and Naoto. Finally, Teddie ran in from the side, not bothering to go back for his suit.

"What is it, Yosuke?" Yu asked, earnestly concerned.

"I ran into something here. It feels like it's made of metal," Yosuke answered, knocking on the giant bush, which made a big hollow sound. "Let me see if we can see what it is."

Yosuke immediately grabbed at the leaves covering the object, pulling them off with some effort. The others quickly joined in, yanking away at the leaves and vines. Whatever it was, it seemed like it was deliberately covered in all the greenery in order to hide it. After taking down one large vine, they all stepped back in shock of what they saw.

They had uncovered what looked like a painted eye at the top of all the leaves. The shape started to come together once they saw the eye, realizing that the top was a head of some sort, with a beak like a duck. Removing more leaves around the bottom, they discovered the body of the object, large and hollow in the center.

"What is this?" Yukiko asked out loud. "It looks almost like…a seat on some theme park ride."

"Not only that! Look!" Chie pointed past the object, showing more bushes in the shape of the one they just uncovered. "There's more of them."

"Now this is getting really weird…" Yosuke said shakily. "What is this place?!"

* * *

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